The future of total hip replacement.

Postoperative infection and the possibility of a stable, long-term cement-bone interface have been chosen as the two most important aspects of the future of total hip replacement. An attempt has been made to rekindle enthusiasm for extreme sterility in the operating room environment and to combine this with antibiotic prophylaxis. Examples of perfect cement-bone interfaces, judged on radiologic data after 12 1/2 years, are presented, together with radiographs of four examples of acrylic cement in the femur after 20 and 21 years of load bearing.