Abstract
INTRODUCTION:
Modular femoral stems of Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) have been designed to fit the metaphysis and diaphysis separately. Clinical results with modular femoral stems are reported to be satisfactory, but there exists several concerns with modular implant connections, including fretting corrosion, fracture of implant, and dissociation the stem from the proximal sleeve. Recently, we have become aware of another potential consequence of the modular design: sleeve deformation secondary to forces encountered during insertion. In our patients, we noted that the stems would not fully seat in the machined taper of the sleeve, indicating that some type deformation to the sleeve had occurred. We began an in vivo study to characterize this phenomenon. The objectives of this study were (1) Does deformation occur by impacting the sleeve into the metaphysis? (2) If so, quantify the sleeve deformation in hip arthroplasty patients.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
One man and 7 women undergoing primary THA were enrolled. This project was approved by IRB. This modular system (4-U CLS; Nakashima Medical Co., Japan) consists of a metaphyseal sleeve that connects with the diaphyseal stem via a Morse taper. The sleeve was impacted into the metaphysis first, followed by the stem. A custom taper gauge for each size of sleeve (Figure 1A) was inserted into the sleeve before and after impacting the sleeve into the metaphysis, and the distance between the top of the sleeve and the top of the gauge was measured using a caliper (* in Figure 1B). Deformation was defined as the difference in distance between the before and the after impacted dimensions. Preoperative femoral morphology, assessed using Dorr classification system, was type A in 2 hips, type B in 5 hips, and type C in 1 hip.
RESULTS:
Intraoperatively, all sleeves had measurable deformity. Deformation ranged from 0.1 to 3.2 mm and averaged 1.18 ± 1.11 mm. Deformation was marginally related to bone type. Sleeve implanted into type A bone experienced 2.45 mm deformation, sleeve implanted into type B bone experienced 0.88 mm deformation, and sleeve implanted into type C bone experienced 0.1 mm deformation (Figure 2). And the largest deformation was observed at 51 years youngest male patient.
DISCUSSION:
The small number studied in this study is a limitation. And we are not certain how long the deformation of the sleeve lasts. Despite the limitations, this study showed that deformation of sleeve occurred by impacting the sleeve into the metaphysis, and sleeves implanted into harder bone experienced larger mean deformation than sleeves implanted into less dense bone. This phenomenon may not have been a relevant issue in the past, but recent studies have reported the deformation of metal acetabular cup. The deformation can affect the torsional stability of modular implant connection and fretting corrosion, so further investigation will be needed. The modular femoral stem with sleeve remains an excellent design, providing good initial stability and long-term results. However, greater understanding of sleeve is important to orthopaedic surgeons.
