Revision arthroplasty with impaction bone grafting and Charnley-Kerboull cemented stem. Surgical technique and results

Abstract

We report here the study of a personal series of 129 consecutive femoral impaction grafting during hip revision replacement performed between January 1991 and December 2005. The indication for the revision of the femoral component was aseptic loosening in 127 hips and septic loosening in two. The precise locations of the segmental defects and osteolytic areas were determined and classified, with use of the Endo-Klinik System, as follows: grade 2 in 75 hips, grade 3 in 43, and grade 4 in 11. Removal of the components, debris and cement was done with special care to achieve a complete resection of fibrous tissue in the medullary canal to ensure a direct contact between the graft and the host bone. Before impaction grafting, femoral segmental bone defects or windows were reconstructed and reinforced with strut allograft and cerclage wires. We used in all hips a special revision set of instruments specially designed for impaction grafting. All the acetabular cups were also revised. Clinical and radiologic evaluation was performed at six weeks, three months, six months and one year. Then, patients were reviewed every year for the first five postoperative years and every two years thereafter. A survivorship analysis was performed to determine the overall success of the procedure. Failure was defined as an implant that had been revised or that was radiologically loosened at the time of follow-up. The survival curve was derived from the cumulative survival rate over time, as calculated from the actuarial life table. At the last follow-up evaluation, seven patients (seven hips) had died and two (two hips) were lost to follow-up. The follow-up of these nine patients ranged from two to ten years. One hundred and twenty patients (120 hips) were reviewed with a mean follow-up of 8.2 years (range, two to 16 years). The average follow-up of the whole series was 8.4 years (range, two to 16 years). At the time of the final review 1 of the 129 hips had migration of the stem’s cement mantle relative to the bone (5 mm) with lucent lines at the graft-host interface in three Gruen zones. Another one had migration within the cement (8 mm) with lucent line at the distal graft-host interface and a distal fracture of the cement mantle. These two stems were considered as definitely loosed according to the criteria of Johnston et al. but none of them was revised. The remaining 127 hips showed no radiological changes at the latest examination concerning stem migration and radiolucent lines. One acetabular definite loosening occurred at ten years and was revised at 11 years postoperatively. In this respect, of the 129 hips, only one hip was revised at 11 years’ follow-up (0.7%). The survivorship analysis, with radiologic loosening as the endpoint, yielded a 98% cumulative survival rate for the femoral component and for the acetabular component, 99% at eleven years follow-up. The survival rate with revision for any reason as the endpoint was 99.4% at eleven years follow-up. The results observed in this series, regarding the need for a repeat revision for any reason, are in agreement with the excellent outcome reported by other authors using similar technique. Nevertheless two main differences must be emphasized when comparing the results of this study with the others. The first one is the low rate of subsidence and the second is the absence of postoperative femoral fracture. The quality of bone grafting and the use of a Kerboull stem, double tapered and polish, were associated with the very low rate of distal migration. The unconditional reconstruction of distal bone deficiency or weakness with bone graft strut appeared efficient to prevent the occurrence of femoral fracture, despite the unique use or standard stems.