LONGTERM FOLLOW-UP OF PRIMARY TOTAL HIP ARTHROPLASTY WITH THE ALLOCLASSIC VARIALL SYSTEM

PurposeThe aim of the current study was to evaluate the clinical and radiographic results of primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) performed with the Alloclassic Variall system (a modified version of the Alloclassic Zweymuller system) and to compare them with those in the literature for the original system.MethodsBetween January 2001 and December 2002, 273 consecutive primary THAs were performed in 259 patients at a single centre with the study system, using ceramic-on-ceramic (81.7%) or ceramic-on-highly-crosslinked-polyethylene (18.3%) articulations.ResultsAt the time of this study, 28 patients (29 hips; 10.6%) had died and 40 (43 hips; 15.8%) were lost to follow-up. 17 patients (19 hips; 7.0%) could be reached only by telephone. There were four revisions in four patients (1.5%), all involving only the femoral component. Ten-year Kaplan-Meier survival with revision of any component for any reason as the endpoint was 98.4% (95% confidence interval: 96.9%–100%; 30 hips remained ‘at risk’). 170 unrevised pa...