NOISE IN CERAMIC BEARING THA REVISITED: ‘CLICKING’ SOUND IMPLIES IMPINGEMENT AND CAN BE A CONCERN FOR POTENTIAL LINER FRACTURE

Background/PurposeTotal hip arthroplasties (THAs) with ceramic bearings are widely performed in young, active patients and thus, long-term outcome in these population is important. Moreover, clinical implication of noise, in which most studies focused on ‘squeaking’, remains controversial and one of concerns unsolved associated with the use of ceramic bearings. However, there is little literature regarding the long-term outcomes after THAs using these contemporary ceramic bearings in young patients. Therefore, we performed a long-term study with a minimum follow-up of 15 years after THAs using contemporary ceramic bearings in young patients with osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) less than fifty.Materials and MethodsAmong sixty patients (71 hips) with a mean age of 39.1 years, 7 patients (7 hips) died and 4 patients (4 hips) were lost before 15-year follow-up. The remaining 60 hips were included in this study with an average follow-up period of 16.3 years (range, 15 to 18). All patients underwent ce...