TITLE:
A late dissociation of the ceramic component of a sandwich liner cup in a total hip arthroplasty—Case report and review of the literature
AUTHORS:
Pieter-Jan De Roo, Franky Steenbrugge, Martijn Raaijmaakers
KEYWORDS:
Total Hip Arthroplasty; Sandwich Cup; Complication; Hip Instability; Cup Revision
JOURNAL NAME:
Case Reports in Clinical Medicine,
Vol.2 No.2,
May
24,
2013
ABSTRACT: We present a case of a 71-year-old woman with unexplained
instability of her total hip arthroplasty 12 years after implantation due to
loosening of the ceramic component of a sandwich ceramic in polyethylene
liner. She experienced in total 2 dislocations in 6 months. These events
occurred without fracture of the ceramic liner. Sandwich ceramic liners were introduced
with the idea of combining the benefits of ceramic and polyethylene bearings in
total hip arthroplasty in order to reduce wear and to allow a ceramic on
ceramic bearing to be used in a cup designed for polyethylene inserts only. Although
some reports showed promising early results, case reports and later on
retrospective analysis showed high fracture rates of the ceramic liner
component. We believe that loosening of the ceramic component may precede
fracture of the liner and that a ceramic on ceramic configuration is
preferable.