Femoral cement grading in total hip arthroplasty.

The current gold standard for primary total hip arthroplasty is a cemented femoral component combined with a porous-coated acetabular component. Barrack and colleagues described a femoral cement mantle grading system which is increasingly being used to evaluate surgical technique and to compare arthroplasty results. The immediate postoperative radiographs of 100 primary total hip arthroplasty cases from five community surgeons were assessed by three observers to evaluate the overall quality of cement technique, the interobserver variability in cement mantle grading, and specific characteristics of the grading system. All three observers agreed on the grading in only 73% of the x-rays (anteroposterior view, 69%; lateral view, 77%). Compared with reports in the literature from specialized hip arthroplasty centers, a very high proportion of the cases had grade C mantles. To gain a balanced perspective of the global effectiveness and longevity of cemented total hip arthroplasty it is important that follow-up studies be reported upon from representative cross sections of the orthopaedic community.