Protection of the Femoral Trunnion During Acetabular Revision Hip Surgery-A Novel Technique

Abhijit C Kawalkar; Nick Vertzyas; Michael J Neil

doi:10.1016/j.artd.2020.09.015

Protection of the Femoral Trunnion During Acetabular Revision Hip Surgery-A Novel Technique

Arthroplast Today. 2020 Nov 4;6(4):911-913. doi: 10.1016/j.artd.2020.09.015. eCollection 2020 Dec.

Authors

Abhijit C Kawalkar¹, Nick Vertzyas², Michael J Neil³

Affiliations

¹ Orthopaedic and Joint Replacement Surgeon, Orange City Hospital and Research Institute, Nagpur, India.
² Orthopaedic Surgeon, & Chairman, Department of Orthopaedics, St Vincent's Clinic and Private Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ Conjoint Associate Professor UNSW, Adjunct Associate Professor U Notre Dame, Orthopaedic Surgeon and Director, St. Vincent's Bone and Joint, St Vincent's Clinic and Private Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Abstract

Revision of a failed acetabular component in the presence of an intact femoral prosthesis comprises approximately 20% of revision total hip replacements performed by the senior author. During this procedure, the femoral trunnion is at risk of damage because of scratching from retractors, reamers, or other instruments. Scratching can result in mechanically assisted crevice corrosion or adverse local-tissue reaction or trunnionosis leading to implant failure. We have used a variety of techniques for protection of the femoral taper over the last 30 years. We describe our current method of taper protection, using a cut segment of #5 silicon laryngeal airway, which is a simple and effective method.

Keywords: Cup-only revision; Liner exchange; Silicon sleeve; Trunnion.