Abstract
Purpose
South African arthroplasty surgeons commonly make use of new bearing surface technology. This new technology only has short term, industry funded clinical trials or simulator studies available to prove its performance and motivate its use. These products are being used despite the availability of conventional components with proven long term in vivo efficacy.
In the light of the recent Du Puy ASR recall, which also showed initial good clinical results, we reviewed the available data on some of the new available bearing surface technology.
Methods
We performed a literature search to identify the best available clinical data regarding duration of follow up and number of patients for a selection of new bearing surfaces and compared it to well known long term clinical follow up studies and joint registry data of conventional products.
Results
New bearing surface technologies have no long term clinical supportive data. Short and medium term results are available, however these are limited and mainly industry funded. Simulator data constituts the bulk of research used as motivation for the introduction of new technologies.
Conclusion
The currently available data on new bearing surface technology is not adequate to provide the arthroplasty surgeon with a confident opinion on long term safety and efficacy. Surgeons should be careful when recommending new products to their patients, who are usually well informed of new technology but often without the necessary insight.
NO DISCLOSURES
