Echelon stems and primary total hip replacement surgery.

The Echelon Primary femoral stem is an extensively porous coated cylindrical cobalt chrome hip component. A prospective review of 392 Echelon stems revealed excellent survivorship of the stem, with a 99.3% survival rate for aseptic loosening and a 98.3% survival rate for revision for any reason at 8 years. Normalized Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index and short-form health survey outcome scores were significantly improved and subsequently maintained after replacement, with 82% of patients obtaining a good or excellent result at the mean follow-up period. There have been no changes in manufacture or design of the stem during the review period.