Abstract
When a well-fixed cementless socket is removed during revision total hip arthroplasty, blood loss and operation time increase. If the resulting bone deficit is large, a graft may be required and rebuilding may be difficult. In cases of revision THA where stability of the outer shell is good, and the shell is undamaged, only the inner cup might require replacement. We reported the results of 7 cases of revision THA of the inner cup of the acetabular side in 7 patients treated from January 2002 to April 2004. Of these patients, 1 man and 6 women, the average age at operation was 66.5 years (range 61-74 years). The average period from the initial THA to the revision THA was 7.3 years (range 4-13 years). The average follow-up period was 21.5 months (range 16-32 months). The average operation time in these cases was 126 minutes (range 75-160 minutes). The average blood loss was 300 ml (range 130-480 ml).
We found this method to be less invasive than removal of the outer shell, and bone stock was preserved. An additional benefit was the ability to compensate for a poor installation angle of the original outer shell during replacement of the inner cup.
