Long-term follow-up results of a second-generation cementless femoral prosthesis with a collar and straight distal fixation channels.

Abstract

We evaluated the results of more than 10 years of follow-up of total hip arthroplasty using a second-generation cementless femoral prosthesis with a collar and straight distal fixation channels.
One hundred five patients (129 hips) who underwent surgery between 1991 and 1996 for primary total hip arthroplasty using cementless straight distal fluted femoral stems were followed for more than 10 years. Ninety-four hips in 80 patients were available for clinical and radiologic analysis. The mean age at the time of surgery was 47 years, and the mean duration of follow-up was 14.3 years.
The mean Harris hip scores had improved from 58 points to 88 points at the time of the 10-year follow-up. Activity-related thigh pain was reported in nine hips (10%). At the last follow-up, 93 stems (99%) were biologically stable and one stem (1%) was revised because of loosening. No hip had distal diaphyseal osteolysis. Proximal femoral stress-shielding was reported in 86 hips (91%). We found no significant relationship between collar-calcar contact and thigh pain, stem fixation status, or stress-shielding. The cumulative survival of the femoral stem was 99% (95% confidence interval, 98-100%) after 10 years.
The long-term results of total hip arthroplasty using a second-generation cementless femoral prosthesis with a collar and straight distal fixation channels were satisfactory; however, the high rate of proximal stress-shielding and the minimal effect of the collar indicate the need for some changes in the stem design.

Full text

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Yonsei Med J http://www.eymj.org Volume 53 Number 1 January 2012
186
Original Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2012.53.1.186
pISSN: 0513-5796, eISSN: 1976-2437
Yonsei Med J 53(1):186-192, 2012
Long-Term Follow-Up Results of a Second-Generation
Cementless Femoral Prosthesis with a Collar and
Straight Distal Fixation Channels
Chang Wook Han,1 Ick Hwan Yang,1 Hye Yeon Lee,2 and Chang Dong Han1
Departments of 1Orthopaedic Surgery and 2Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Received: February 22, 2011
Revised: April 6, 2011
Accepted: April 6, 2011
Corresponding author: Dr. Chang Dong Han,
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery,
Yonsei University College of Medicine,
50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu,
Seoul 120-752, Korea.
Tel: 82-2-2228-2180, Fax: 82-2-363-1139
E-mail: cdhan@yuhs.ac
∙ The authors have no financial conflicts of
interest.
© Copyright:
Yonsei University College of Medicine 2012
This is an Open Access article distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-
Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-
commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Purpose: We evaluated the results of more than 10 years of follow-up of total hip ar-
throplasty using a second-generation cementless femoral prosthesis with a collar and
straight distal fixation channels. Materials and Methods: One hundred five patients
(129 hips) who underwent surgery between 1991 and 1996 for primary total hip ar-
throplasty using cementless straight distal fluted femoral stems were followed for
more than 10 years. Ninety-four hips in 80 patients were available for clinical and ra-
diologic analysis. The mean age at the time of surgery was 47 years, and the mean
duration of follow-up was 14.3 years. Results: The mean Harris hip scores had im-
proved from 58 points to 88 points at the time of the 10-year follow-up. Activity-re-
lated thigh pain was reported in nine hips (10%). At the last follow-up, 93 stems
(99%) were biologically stable and one stem (1%) was revised because of loosening.
No hip had distal diaphyseal osteolysis. Proximal femoral stress-shielding was report-
ed in 86 hips (91%). We found no significant relationship between collar-calcar con-
tact and thigh pain, stem fixation status, or stress-shielding. The cumulative survival
of the femoral stem was 99% (95% confidence interval, 98-100%) after 10 years.
Conclusion: The long-term results of total hip arthroplasty using a second-generation
cementless femoral prosthesis with a collar and straight distal fixation channels were
satisfactory; however, the high rate of proximal stress-shielding and the minimal ef-
fect of the collar indicate the need for some changes in the stem design.
Key Words: Total hip arthroplasty, second-generation, cementless, collar, straight
distal fixation channel
INTRODUCTION
Cementless total hip arthroplasty was developed as an alternative method to ce-
mented arthroplasty, in which aseptic loosening and subsequent mechanical failure
were common problems.1-3 Bone ingrowth by direct contact between the host bone
and the porous-coated surface of the prosthesis was expected to achieve stable bio-
logic fixation and prevent component loosening.
Although “first-generation” cementless femoral components showed acceptable
prosthetic stability due to bone ingrowth,4-6 problems were reported, including distal

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Long-Term Results of the Collared, Straight Stem
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187
up (six years post-operation); all the other hips were followed
for a minimum of 10 years after the operation. Patient de-
mographic data are shown in Table 1.
The HG Multilock femoral stem is a straight-collared
femoral component made of Ti-6Al-4V alloy (Fig. 1). The
implant’s features include a proximal circumferential fiber-
metal porous coating consisting of a titanium wire mesh
that is diffusion-bonded to the substrate. The porous surface
area is trapezoidal and extends into the metaphyseal-diaph-
yseal junction of the stem. The distal portion of the implant
is polished and has fixation channels (flutes) that engage
the diaphyseal cortex to enhance initial rotational stability.
A posterolateral approach without trochanteric osteotomy
was used in all cases. A 28-mm cobalt-chromium alloy fem-
femoral osteolysis, stress-shielding, and activity-related thigh
pain.7-13 Changes in prosthetic material and design produced
second-generation cementless femoral components, using
materials with a lower modulus of elasticity (such as titanium
alloy) to minimize postoperative thigh pain and femoral
stress-shielding. The porous-coated surface was limited to the
proximal region of the stem to reproduce a load-transfer pat-
tern similar to that of a normal femur. In addition, proximal
porous-coating was applied in a circumferential pattern with
no smooth channel that could act as a passage for polyethyl-
ene wear particles and cause distal diaphyseal osteolysis.14
The Harris-Galante (HG) Multilock (Zimmer, Warsaw, IN,
USA) femoral stem is a second-generation femoral compo-
nent that is newly characterized by use of titanium alloy
with circumferential proximal porous coating. Although the
stem produces relatively good short- to mid-term results,15-17
the collared and distal fluted design of the stem (retained
from its predecessor) left room for improvement; hence its
successor is a femoral prosthesis that is collarless and has a
distal tapered design.
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate long-
term clinical outcomes, radiographic results, and implant
survival rates for patients followed up for a minimum of 10
years after a primary cementless total hip arthroplasty per-
formed using a collared and distal fluted second-generation
femoral prosthesis. The effectiveness of the collared and
straight distal fluted geometry in the femoral prosthesis was
also assessed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
　　　
Between August 1991 and February 1996, a single surgeon
performed 129 cementless total hip arthroplasties in 105
patients using the HG Multilock femoral stems and cement-
less acetabular components (Harris-Galante II; Zimmer).
Eleven of these patients (15 hips) died within the 10-year
postoperative period from conditions not related to the ar-
throplasty, and none underwent revision surgery before
death. Fourteen patients (20 hips) were lost to follow-up
within the 10-year period. All 14 patients were last contact-
ed by telephone and had no complaints related to the hip re-
placement at their last follow up. The remaining 80 patients
(94 hips) were available for clinical and radiologic analysis.
The mean duration of follow-up was 14.3 years (range, 10
to 18.7 years). Only one patient (one hip) received revision
surgery for a femoral component before the 10-year follow-
Table 1. Demographic Data
No. of hips
No. of patients
Diagnosis (No. of hips)
Avascular necrosis
Osteoarthritis
Femur neck fracture
Sequelae of pyogenic arthritis
Gender (No. of patients)
Male
Female
Age at operation* (yrs)
Height* (cm)
Weight* (kg)
Body mass index* (kg/m2)
*Data are given as a mean with the range in parenthesis.
94
80
63
17
10
4
61
19
47 (25 to 73)
166 (150 to 183)
62.4 (44 to 84)
22.6 (16.8 to 32.5)
AB
Fig. 1. (A) Anteroposterior and (B) lateral postoperative radiographs of the
Harris-Galante Multilock femoral prosthesis.

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Intramedullary bone formation at the distal tip (bony pedes-
tal) was considered ‘stable’ if the new bone formation was
in direct contact with the distal stem tip and if no new radio-
lucencies or reactive lines formed around the stem tip.22 In
contrast, a radiolucency and a line surrounding the distal
stem was considered to indicate that the pedestal beneath
the stem was unstable.22 Distal cortical hypertrophy was re-
corded. Change in the position of the stem to varus or valgus
was determined by drawing a line through the longitudinal
axis of the stem and another line through the longitudinal
axis of the proximal femoral canal. Instability of the femo-
ral stem was defined as subsidence of >2 mm or change of
the stem position angle of >2°, or a continuous radiolucent
line wider than 2 mm.7,23 Linear polyethylene wear was mea-
sured with the Picture Archiving Communication System
(PACS, General Electrics, Milwaukee, WI, USA) accord-
ing to the method by Livermore, et al.24
The statistical association between the collar-calcar con-
tact and activity-related thigh pain, the status of stem fixation
or the severity of stress-shielding was evaluated using the
chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test. The level of signifi-
cance was p<0.05. Kaplan-Meier analysis of the survival of
the femoral component was performed for all 129 hips.
The Institutional Review Board of Yonsei University Col-
lege of Medicine approved this retrospective study.
RESULTS

Clinical results
The average Harris hip score improved from a preoperative
58 points (range, 4 to 93 points) to an 88-point average
(range, 29 to 100 points) at the last follow up. Fifty-four hips
(57%) had excellent outcomes; 21 hips (22%), good out-
comes; 10 hips (11%), fair outcomes; and nine hips (10%),
poor outcomes. Of the nine poor outcomes, the low Harris
scores of 4 were not related to the total hip replacement; two
were related to spinal stenosis, one was complicated with
an ipsilateral knee problem, and one was associated with
stroke. The other five poor outcomes were related to the ac-
etabular cup or polyethylene liner. Activity-related thigh pain
was reported in nine patients (9 hips; 10%). The pain was
spontaneously relieved in six hips within the 2-year postop-
erative period and minor complaints in three hips did not
compromise daily activities.
Postoperative dislocations occurred in six patients (six
hips); five of these were treated with closed reduction, and
oral head and a ram extruded GUR 4150 (Westlake Plastics,
Lenni, PA, USA) ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene,
machined and sterilized with γ-irradiation in air, was inserted
in all patients. Prophylactic antibiotics (third-generation ceph-
alosporin) were given to all patients intraoperatively unless
contraindicated, and continued until 2 days after surgery. An-
ti-thromboembolic stockings were applied to all patients as
prophylaxis for deep-vein thrombosis, but anti-coagulation
agents were not routinely used except for those who had any
risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Partial weight-bearing
with two crutches was allowed for 6 weeks post-operation
and full weight-bearing was allowed thereafter.
Preoperative clinical and radiographic evaluations were
performed as well as postoperative exams at 6 weeks, 3
months, 1 year, and annually after that. The Harris Hip score18
was used for clinical evaluation of function and pain. The
results were considered excellent for a Harris Hip score of
90-100, good for a score of 80-89, fair for a score of 70-79,
and poor for a score below 70. Activity-related thigh pain
was recorded separately. All intraoperative and postopera-
tive complications were recorded.
Standard radiographs included an anteroposterior view of
the pelvis and anteroposterior and lateral views of the prox-
imal femur. Two independent observers (C.W.H. and I.H.Y.)
who were not involved in the implantation evaluated all ra-
diographs. The immediate postoperative radiograph was
evaluated for the contact of the collar and the medial femo-
ral cortical bone (calcar) using the method of Meding, et
al.19 The locations of radiographic findings in the femur
were recorded using the zones described by Gruen, et al.20
and Johnston, et al.21 Considering the structure of the HG
Multilock stem, zones 1 and 2 were divided by the junction
of the porous and smooth areas of the implant laterally,
zone 4 included the distal smooth tip, zones 3 and 5 divided
the remaining smooth portion of the stem laterally and me-
dially, and zones 6 and 7 were divided by the junction of the
porous and smooth surfaces of the stem medially.15 Femoral
component fixation was graded as bone ingrowth, stable fi-
brous ingrowth, or unstable implant, using the criteria of
Engh, et al.7 Endosteal bone bridging (spot weld) formation,
presence of radiolucent lines at the bone-prosthesis inter-
face, and osteolysis were evaluated. Proximal femoral re-
modeling (stress-shielding) was graded as first degree; cal-
car rounding only, second degree; calcar rounding and loss
of medial cortical density at zone 7, third degree; more ex-
tensive resorption of cortical bone at zone 6 and 7, as fourth
degree; and cortical resorption extended into the diaphysis.7

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189
bility of the femoral stems was checked intraoperatively,
and both stems were well-fixed to the femoral bones. There-
fore, stem revisions were not performed, and only allogenous
bone grafts for the femoral defect area were performed.
Proximal femoral stress-shielding was noted in 86 hips
(91%), and eight hips (9%) showed no evidence of femoral
stress-shielding upon the latest radiographic follow-up. For-
ty-six hips (49%) had first-degree stress-shielding and 39
hips (41%) had second-degree stress-shielding. Extensive
cortical resorption was noted in one hip at the six-year post-
operative point. In spite of stable bony ingrowth with end-
osteal spot weld in zone 7, the stem was revised because
the patient was relatively young, male and highly active. At
the latest clinical follow-up (15 years after index surgery,
nine years after revision surgery), the patient had a 95-point
Harris hip score and no complaints about his hip function.
Contact of the collar and femoral calcar was observed in
44 hips (47%), and collar-calcar contact showed no statisti-
cal correlation with thigh pain, the status of stem fixation or
stress-shielding (p>0.05).
The linear wear rate was 0.20 mm/year (0.05 to 0.66 mm/
year).

Revisions
Forty-four hips (47%) received revision surgery for any rea-
son during the follow-up period (average 10.5 years, range
2.5-18.3 years after surgery). One hip received revision only
of the femoral stem because of extensive stress-shielding.
In 18 (19%) hips, only the polyethylene liner and femoral
head were changed and 13 of these 18 liner-exchange sur-
geries were performed because of the locking mechanism
failure in the Harris-Galante II acetabular prosthesis. The
remaining 25 (27%) hips received acetabular component
revisions to treat severe pelvic osteolysis with or without
acetabular loosening. The stability of every femoral compo-
nent was tested during the acetabular revision procedure
and only one stem was confirmed to have been loosened,
although there was no radiographic evidence of femoral
loosening during the 15-year postoperative period (stable
fibrous ingrowth status). Overall, only two femoral compo-
nent revisions (one for severe stress-shielding and one for
stem loosening) were performed.
When femoral component revision for any reason was
used as the end point, the cumulative survival rate of femo-
ral prosthesis was 99% (95% confidence interval, 98% to
100%) at 10 years and 97% (95% confidence interval, 95%
to 99%) at 15 years (Fig. 2).
re-dislocation was not reported. Only one patient had recur-
rent dislocation and required revision surgery to exchange
the polyethylene liner and femoral head, and tighten the
capsule two years after the index operation. The femoral
component was stabilized during surgery in this patient.
Nondisplaced metaphyseal fractures (calcar cracks) dur-
ing insertion of the femoral components occurred in nine
patients (nine hips). All of these fractures were treated with
two cerclage wirings, and all femoral components subse-
quently had stable ingrowth.

Radiographic assessment of the femoral components
Stable bone ingrowth occurred in all femoral stems except
one (93 of 94 hips, 99%), and stable fibrous ingrowth oc-
curred in the remaining one hip (1%). No loose stems were
found upon radiographic assessment. Endosteal spot weld
formation was seen in 93 hips (99%). Lateral porous surface
(zone 1) was the most common site of endosteal spot weld
formation (90 hips, 96%). Distal medial porous surface (dis-
tal zone 7) was the second most common site (75 hips, 80%).
Radiolucent lines in one or more zones were observed in
49 hips (52%) upon the last radiographic evaluation. The
lines observed at the non-porous smooth surface were ≤1
mm in width, and were not progressive except as observed
in one hip. An extensive radiolucent line was seen through-
out the entire bone-prosthesis interface on both the antero-
posterior and lateral radiographs in one hip, but the width
was less than 1 mm, and subsidence or angle change of the
stem was not detected. The prosthesis was therefore consid-
ered to have stable fibrous ingrowth. No femoral compo-
nent had subsided or changed its varus-valgus alignment.
Bone pedestals were present in 17 hips (18%), but none were
accompanied by other findings of stem instability. Distal cor-
tical hypertrophy was seen in three hips (3%).
Proximal femoral osteolysis was seen in 81 hips (86%).
The mean time for first radiographic appearance of osteoly-
sis was three years (range, 1 to 6 years) postoperatively. In
79 of the 81 hips, osteolytic lesions were restricted to the
proximally located zones (zone 1 and 7) in the form of linear
endosteal erosion. In the remaining two hips, however, rela-
tively large osteolytic lesions (4×2 cm and 3×1 cm) were
defined at the level of the greater trochanter (zone 1) in the
14- and 15-year postoperative follow-up radiographs, re-
spectively. Although both stems appeared to be stable upon
serial radiographic follow-up, the patients received revision
surgery of the acetabular components for progression of ac-
etabular osteolysis with severe polyethylene wear. The sta-

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190
ried, et al.13 described the concept of ‘effective joint space’,
in which polyethylene wear particles can migrate to the dis-
tal bone-prosthesis interface via the passage with the lowest
intra-articular pressure. Bobyn, et al.29 reported that in ani-
mal models, wear particles could migrate to the diaphyseal
area more easily through the non-porous surface than through
the porous surface. An important feature of second-genera-
tion cementless femoral prostheses is circumferential po-
rous coating, which was expected to prevent distal migra-
tion of wear particles. For this reason, all osteolytic lesions
in the present study were selected to be proximal to the po-
rous-coated surface of the stem. Among these, however,
two large osteolytic lesions were observed in the region of
the greater trochanter in follow-up radiographs obtained
more than 10 years post-operation. Although the osteolytic
lesions were not accompanied by any diaphyseal extension
or consequent stem loosening, prophylactic bone graft was
performed to prevent periprosthetic fracture. In both cases,
no radiographic abnormalities appeared before the 10-year
postoperative follow-up. Meding, et al.30 also reported ob-
serving a large area of osteolysis in the region of the greater
trochanter, without stem loosening, at the 10-year follow-
up of another circumferential proximal porous-coated ce-
mentless femoral prosthesis. Long-term radiographic fol-
low-up is therefore essential, even though notable osteolysis
is not commonly associated with second-generation ce-
mentless femoral prostheses.
The known causes of activity-related thigh pain include
micro-motion of the unstable stem tip and a difference in
elastic modulus between the bone and the implant. A high
DISCUSSION
In the present study, stable bone ingrowth with endosteal
spot weld formation was noted in 93 of 94 hips (99%) and
the 10-year survival rate of the femoral component was 99%.
These results compare favorably with those of other studies
using the HG Multilock prosthesis (Table 2).15-17,25
Although first-generation cementless femoral prostheses
produced stable bone ingrowth, studies also reported rates
of diaphyseal osteolysis greater than 10%.11,26-28 Schmalz-
Table 2. Comparison of Studies of the Multilock Prosthesis
Author
No. of hips
Follow-up period* (yrs)
Stable bone ingrowth†
Femoral osteolysis†
Above lesser trochanter
Below lesser trochanter
Stress-shielding†
None
Mild
Severe
Thigh pain†
Stem loosening†
10-year survivorship
of femoral component*
(Kaplan-Meier analysis)
*Data are given as a mean with the range in parenthesis.
†Data are given as a number with a percentage in parenthesis.
Sinha, et al.15
88
6.5 (5 to 9)
84 (96%)
Lachiewicz, et al.16
55
10.5 (7 to 15)
55 (100%)
Surdam, et al.17
226
9 (5 to 14)
223 (99%)
Min, et al.25
58
11.1 (10 to 13.4) 14.3 (10 to 18.7)
55 (95%)
Current study
94
93 (99%)
33 (38%)
0
4 (7%)
0
16 (7%)
0
9 (16%)
0
81 (86%)
0
16 (18%)
70 (80%)
2 (2%)
14 (11%)
1 (1%)
0 46 (79%)
12 (21%)
0
3 (5%)
1 (2%)
8 (9%)
85 (90%)
1 (1%)
9 (10%)
1 (1%)
Notmentioned125 (55%)
0
Notmentioned
3 (1%)
1 (2%)
0
97%
(94% to 100%)
Notmentioned
98%
(97% to 100%)
96%
(90% to 100%)
99%
(98% to 100%)
Fig. 2. Kaplan-Meier survivorship curve, with 95% confidence intervals,
showing a 99% rate of implant survival at 10 years and 97% at 15 years with
revision of femoral component as the end point.
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0
Survival rate
012345678 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Follow-up (year)
Kaplan-Meier survivorship analysis (stem)