Biomechanical Alignment of Main Wear-Pattern on MOM Total Hip Replacement

In the majority of retrievals, femoral heads and cups are sent for analysis with no designation as to positioning in-vivo. In addition, when patients retain the femoral prosthesis, evidence of neck impingement damage is lost. In this case report we studied head and cup wear-patterns and stripe damage in a novel case that included a large diameter metal-on-metal THA that was retrieved with the head still fused to the stem. This provided anatomical positioning of head wear-pattern and stripe damage as represented by the orientation of the femoral stem in radiographic images. We investigated (1) size, shape and location of head and cup wear-patterns, (2) cup-to-stem impingement damage, and (3) head stripe-wear. The head wear-pattern was elliptical in shape, 40mm diameter with area covering 2200 sq.mm. Its hemispherical ratio was 56% with aspect ratio 1.2 and typical of large-diameter MOM retrievals. Wear-pattern extended from 12° above superior head-margin to approximately 40° inferior to polar axis. Centroidal vector in coronal plane was 13° posterior to polar axis and in transverse plane was 19° superior to polar axis. These vector data corresponded well with biomechanical predictions of resultant load axes in gait studies. Stripe damage was identified on the head, and the cup rim could thereby be aligned to verify neck impingement and also head subluxation mechanisms. Cup wear-pattern was not centrally contained, indicating this patient had experienced repetitive edge-wear during gait. Thinning of the cup rim by 350- 400μm indicated that posterior impingement with repetitive anterior subluxation of the head had created this edge-wear.