Serum concentration and urinary excretion of titanium, aluminum, and
vanadium were measured for patients who had a well functioning cementless
primary total hip replacement of one of two different designs, for patients
who had a loose total hip replacement that was to be revised, and for
control subjects who had no implant. Serum concentrations of titanium were
elevated approximately twofold in the patients who had a loose implant,
compared with the values for the control subjects. No major differences in
terms of urine concentration of titanium, serum concentration of aluminum,
or urine concentration of aluminum were observed among any of the groups
that were studied. Concentrations of vanadium were uniformly low in all
groups.