- Ralf H Wittenberg: St. Elisabeth-Krankenhaus, Vestische Orthopädische Klinik, Herten;
Hip prosthesis stems with a short stem length and proximal fixation geometry support a bone-preserving and muscle-sparing implantation and should also allow for revision surgery with a standard hip stem. We present 250 prospectively documented clinical and radiological results from the Metha Short Hip Stem prosthesis (B. Braun-Aesculap, Tuttlingen, Germany) after an average follow-up of 4.9 years. The average patient age at surgery was 60 years. Indication for total hip replacement was primary osteoarthrosis (OA) (78% of patients), OA based on developmental dysplasia of the hip (16%), and other indications (6%). At the last follow-up, the average Harris Hip Score was 97 points. 85% of patients were very satisfied and 14% were satisfied after surgery, whereas 1% were dissatisfied. Pain according to the Visual Analogue Scale improved from 7.4 (min 1.6, max 9.5) pre-operatively to 0.23 (min 0, max 6.6). No joint dislocations occurred when predominantly using 28 mm and 32 mm prosthesis heads. Nine short-stems were revised: three after bacterial infections, two after primary via valsa with penetration of the femoral cortex two and three months after surgery, and three after early aseptic cases of loosening within the first year. A further nine osseously consolidated short-stems had to be replaced due to breakage of the modular titanium cone adapter after an average of 3.1 years (min 1.9, max 4.4). All surgical revisions were performed using primary standard stems. Without taking the material-related adapter failures into account, a five year Kaplan-Meier survival rate of 96.7% (95% confidence interval 93.4-98.3) was determined for the short-stem prostheses. There were no radiological signs of loosening in any of the short-stem prostheses at the last examination. Fine sclerotic lines were detected in Gruen's AP zones 1 (19%) and 2 (10.5%), individual hypertrophies in zone 3 (3.5%), fine seams in zones 4 (5.5%) and 5 (4%), without pedestal formations in zone 4, clear cancellous bone compressions in zone 6 (97.5%), as well as single fine scleroses (1.5%) and atrophies (2.5%) in zone 7. The mid-term clinical results with periprosthetic bone remodeling and without radiological signs of loosening confirm this metaphyseal short-stem treatment and fixation concept and the possibility of revision surgery using standard hip stems. Long-term results must be further observed on a prospective basis as part of this collective study.