Mittelmeier's prosthesis: histological and microradiographic study two years after operation.

The writers present the results of the histological and microradiographic study of a femur and acetabulum two years after the implantation of Mittelmeier's prosthesis, the patient having died from an accident. The periprosthetic diaphyseal cortical bone had been fully resorbed, spongy bone had developed in the central portion and subperiosteal elongated lacunae had formed in the antero-medial part. The sclerosis at the calcar and at the apex of the shaft was made up of osteone systems, part of which consisted of newly laid down bone. The periprosthetic osteofibrous layer was separated from the cortical bone by wide inter-trabecular spaces except in the lateral sector where the shaft was supported by cortical bone that had been relatively conserved.