Bio-active fixation has increasingly gained acceptance over the last two decades. However extent of the coating is still a subject of debate. We introduced in 1986, the concept of total osteointegration of a tapered stem with the hope that we could achieve durable biological fixation while preserving normal periprosthetic bone trophicity. Patients from our first clinical series using this stem are now eligible for 18-year follow up. Between July 1986 and December 1990, we performed 615 THA using the Corail stem (DePuy). Corail is a straight tapered stem totally coated with a 150 μ thick layer of HA following an atmospheric plasma-spray process. The mean age at surgery was 64.5 (range 16 to 95). 242 patients are now deceased (39%), 62 patients (10%) are lost to follow-up. The mean follow-up for 243 living patients on file is 17.7 years.Introduction
Material and methods
