Failures and reoperations following low-friction arthroplasty of the hip. A five- to fifteen-year follow-up study.

One thousand nine Charnley low-friction arthroplasties performed by one surgeon were investigated for occurrence of failure from five to 15 years after operation. Six hundred ninety-six of the arthroplasties, 499 operations for primary and 197 for secondary surgery, qualified for study. Eleven hips of the 499 primary arthroplasties (2.2%) and five hips of 197 secondary surgery (2.5%) required reoperation. Six hips (of five patients) in primary and four hips in secondary surgery were identified as "pending failure," for which further surgical correction may be imminent. There were six deep infections (1%), one in primary and five in secondary surgery. Five patients (0.7%) required reoperations other than revision of arthroplasty. Combining the actual and pending failures resulting from mechanical failures and deep infection, there were 31 failures in 696 arthroplasties (4.5%).