Conversion of the arthrodesed hip to a total hip arthroplasty.

Total hip arthroplasty was done in thirty-three patients who had had previous surgical attempts at arthrodesis of the hip. The arthrodesis had failed in nineteen patients, and the other fourteen patients had fused hips with symptoms in the knee and lower back. Thirty-one of the patients had satisfactory functional ability after total hip arthroplasty after one to three and one-half years' follow-up. The two patients in whom the procedure failed had complicating infections.