The Journal of arthroplasty
-
Evaluation of hospital readmissions after total hip arthroplasty may help improve patient safety and cost reduction. This study investigates the rates and reasons for readmission as well as length of hospital stay (LOS) for 1802 total hip arthroplasty patients from 2002 to 2007. Data were abstracted from the Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System. ⋯ The most common causes for readmission were cardiac related. A reduction in LOS was not associated with an increase in the rate of readmission in this sample. Efforts to optimize cardiac status before discharge may lead to lower rates of readmission in the future.
-
Case Reports
Catastrophic failure of a metal-on-metal total hip arthroplasty secondary to metal inlay dissociation.
Metal-on-metal bearing surfaces in total hip arthroplasty have been recently shown to have acceptable survivorship properties (J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2006;88:1183; J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2006;88:1173), and they have certain advantages and disadvantages when compared to conventional metal-on-polyethylene bearing surfaces. Like traditional metal-on-polyethylene bearings, these metal-on-metal implants may also suffer from catastrophic failure. This case report represents an unusual situation in a 57-year-old man in which dissociation of a metal inlay in a metal-on-metal total hip arthroplasty resulted in articulation of the inferior aspect of the inlay with the femoral neck, leading to femoral neck notching, extensive periprosthetic soft tissue metallosis, osteolysis, and subsequent prosthetic catastrophic failure.