The Role of Crosslinked Polyethylene in Reducing Aggregated Costs of Total Hip Arthroplasty in the United States

Abstract

BackgroundWidespread adoption of crosslinked polyethylene for the acetabular articular surface for total hip arthroplasty has substantially reduced revision rates and dislocation rates. We aim to provide estimates of the resulting magnitude of the annual reduction in aggregated costs of total hip arthroplasty surgery in the United States. MethodsAfter we obtained, from the literature, the contrasting mid-term rates of revisions and dislocations of total hip arthroplasty using conventional polyethylene vs those using crosslinked polyethylene, specifically from only registry studies and prospective, randomized controlled studies, we multiplied these incidence figures by the cost estimates of these failures to generate approximations of the cost savings in the United States from the use of crosslinked polyethylene. ResultsThe estimates suggest that in the United States these savings might be one billion dollars per annual cohort over a 15-year duration. ConclusionThe use of crosslinked polyethylene has reduced substantially the overall costs of total hip arthroplasty surgery in the United States.