Total hip arthroplasty, since the release of methylmethacrylate, is being performed in this country at the rate of about 15,000 per year. For the older patient, virtual absence of pain, improved function, and a short-term rehabilitative effort, make total hip arthroplasty the procedure of choice in the treatment of severe noninfected hip disease. For other patients, successful salvage of previously failed hip surgeries is now possible. Finally, there are those younger patients for whom no other form of therapy is possible to provide pain-free function. Although not a panacea for all hip disease, the total hip arthroplasty has provided pain-free existence with improved function and a return to a useful life for patients with previously inoperable hip disease, no matter what the etiology.
