We reported previously on the application of an autogenous femoral-head
graft to the acetabulum during total hip arthroplasty for compensation of
marked osseous deficiency in patients who had arthritis secondary to severe
congenital dysplasia or dislocation of the hip. An average of seven years
postoperatively, the graft seemed to have been a successful adjunct to the
arthroplasty. Five years later, to assess our long-term results, we
reviewed the findings in the same forty-six hips (thirty-seven patients)
that we had studied previously. An average of 11.8 years after the total
replacement and use of the autogenous femoral-head graft, nine hips (20 per
cent) needed a second operation because the acetabular fixation had failed.
Two had had a resection arthroplasty and seven, a complex revision. In one
additional hip, a resection arthroplasty was done for infection that had
developed after operative reattachment of the greater trochanter. In twelve
of the remaining thirty-six hips, there was definite radiographic evidence
of acetabular loosening. Thus, the total incidence of loosening of the
acetabular component was 46 per cent (twenty-one hips). The average time
from the index operation to the first definite radiographic evidence that
the fixation had failed was 6.4 years (range, 2.9 to 12.7 years). While we
recognize that application of a bulk autogenous graft to the acetabulum is
useful when the acetabular bone stock is extremely deficient, we no longer
recommend the use of bulk corticocancellous autogenous grafts in other
situations.