Revision total hip arthroplasty with an uncemented, modular femoral prosthesis - early to mid-term results

Aims Revision total hip arthroplasty is a common operation. The MP Link (Waldemar Link, Hamburg, Germany) system is a distally loading, modular, tapered femoral stem component for revision hip surgery. MP Link in revision total hip arthoplasty was investigated clinically, radiologically and with Oxford hip scores. Methods A prospective study was conducted of 43 patients undergoing revision total hip arthroplasty with MP Link prostheses between 2004 and 2010. The patients were operated upon by one of the senior authors (JM, JS, RC). Outcome data was collected in clinic and via patient questionnaires. Results Of the 43 patients, 18 were males. The mean age at surgery was 70.88 years (range 37–97 years). The mean follow up was 33.1 months (range 10–61 months). Indications for revision surgery ranged from aseptic loosening in 34 patients (79.1%), infection in 7 (16.3%), periprosthetic fractures in 1 (2.3%) and recurrent dislocations in 1 (2.3%). None of the patients were lost to follow up. 4 patients died with asymptomatic, well-fixed stems. 2 patients requested to have their follow up referred to their local hospital after 6 and 28 months respectively. 1 patient developed a post-operative pulmonary embolus which was treated with warfarin and caused no further problems. The average Birmingham hip score following the revision surgery was 13.5/48. 100% of the patients had osteointegration of the stem and there were no cases of loosening or osteolysis. There was no radiographic evidence of distal migration of the stems. One patient who underwent revision for infection, became re-infected and underwent further revision surgery. Kaplan-Meier survivorship was 98%. Discussion The early to mid term results of the uncemented, modular femoral MP link prosthesis are encouraging in complex revision total hip arthoplasty. Long term results are awaited.