In six patients with Gaucher's disease, arthroplasties were performed on
ten hips for avascular necrosis of the femoral head. The follow-up ranged
from two to twelve years. There were three Vitallium mold (cup)
arthroplasties, seven primary total hip-replacement arthroplasties, and two
revisions of total hip-replacement arthroplasties. Increased intraoperative
and postoperative bleeding was often encountered. The cup arthroplasties
yielded good results on long-term follow-up, but there was a high rate of
loosening of the prosthetic components in the total hip replacements. There
was one postoperative pathological fracture but there were no
infections.