Cancer risk after Mckee-Farrar total hip replacement.

Cancer incidence in 433 McKee-Farrar total hip replacement patients, operated on between 1967 and 1973, was examined for 5729 person-years, to the end of 1981. The expected number of natural deaths was slightly higher than observed, suggesting some selection of the operated patients. The risk of total cancer incidence did not increase, but the risk for site-specific cancer did because there were no cases of kidney or bladder cancer, or rare forms of cancer. The risk of leukemias and lymphomas increased, and the risk of breast cancer decreased; these results were surprisingly similar to those of a study from New Zealand. This study concluded that patients with total hip prostheses have a cancer morbidity differing from the general population. The role of chrome-cobalt-molybdenum alloy in carcinogenesis requires further investigation.