SALVAGE OF TOTAL HIP INSTABILITY WITH A CONSTRAINED ACETABULAR COMPONENT

Between April 1988 and February 1993, 101 constraining acetabular comp onents were implanted into 98 patients. One patient was lost to follow up at 8 months. Otherwise, all patients were observed until death or f or at least 2 years minimum followup, The average clinical followup fa r the living patients was 61 months (range, 24-97 months), Indications for the use of the constrained acetabular components were recurrent d islocation (an average of six dislocations, range 2-20) in 56 cases, i ntraoperative instability in 38 cases, and neurologic impairment in se ven cases. For the entire group there were four cases of recurrent dis location or failure of the component (4%). For the eases where this co mponent was used for recurrent dislocation, 96% (54 of 56 cases) had n o additional dislocations, Radiographically, at this short term follow up, there was no evidence of an increased incidence of femoral or acet abular component loosening. The authors recommend judicious use of thi s component as a salvage measure for desperate cases of hip instabilit y during or after total hip arthroplasty.