A revision hip is used when previous hip surgery has failed or worn out. Revision hip stems can be either cemented or cementless and are always made of metal. Usually revision hip stems are bigger than primary hip stems to accommodate any bone loss. Usually the surgeon will need to be stem fixation in other areas of the thigh bone (femur) than obtained during the first procedure, therefore there are many different revision hips stems to accommodate these needs, for example, often bone further down the femur (towards the knee) provides better fixation points, therefore longer hip stems are often used.
A revision cup is usually uncemented, however, cemented cups are often used in revision, with bone defect being filled with articficial bone. |