DOES A SURGEONS GLOVE REPRESENT ADEQUATE PROTECTION OF THE MONOBLOCK FEMORAL HEAD DURING REVISION HIP SURGERY

Introduction: Many revision hip procedures involve revision of the socket only with retention of the mono block femoral component. Some surgeons choose to reduce metal wear by protecting the femoral head component from scratching by using the cut finger of a Biogel glove Objective: To investigate whether the use of a finger surgeons glove reduces indentation of femoral (head) components. Design: Femoral head components (Depuy) made from Ortron 90 stainless steel were fixed onto the Endura TE C 3300 materials testing machine. Indentations were made using scissors with a maximum force of 50 Newtons. Additional scratches were performed using a Jimmy. This procedure was then repeated using the finger of a glove as protection. The surface roughness values for the femoral heads were measured using a Taylor Hobson Talysurf Series 120L stylus instrument. Conclusion: On the basis of these results we advocate the use of this simple measure to reduce the risk of surface damage to the femoral head. Furthermore, we believe that this is the only laboratory based study to ever investigate the effectiveness of this technique.