Background: Femorotomy is a commonly used technique during cementless stem removal but should be preferred in selective revision cases to prevent intraoperative femoral fracture associated with deteriorated clinical outcome. Our aim was to assess the risk factors for fracture or femorotomy and develop a predictive risk stratification score.
Methods: A monocentric retrospective cohort including 202 patients was analyzed. Thirty six candidate prognostic factors were assessed.
Results: The following independent predictors of fracture or femorotomy were identified: presence of a "bracket sign" (Odds Ratio [OR]: 10.857; 95% Confidence interval [CI]: 2.613-45.115; P = .001) defined as a distal spot weld between the surface of the implant and closest endosteum, bone contact in zone 2 (OR: 4.700; 95% CI: 1.827-12.089; P = .001), 6 (OR: 4.966; 95% CI: 1.823-13.530; P = .002), 12 (OR: 9.660; 95% CI: 3.715-25.116; P < .0001), 13 (OR: 2.958; 95% CI: 1.009-8.021; P = .033), and global hypertrophy (OR: 0.170; 95% CI: 0.036-0.806; P = .026). The prognostic score, named Femorotomy INcidence Numeric scoring system, had good performance and discriminability; the area under the curve of the model was 0.924 (95% CI: 0.878-0.969).
Conclusion: The only independent risk factors were those assessed on X-ray (eg, bracket sign, bone contact in zones 2, 6, 12, and 13), while global hypertrophy was protective. We noticed the importance of differentiating pedestals and "bracket signs"; the latter is an indicator of fixation of the stem. We developed a risk prediction score (Femorotomy INcidence Numeric score) of fracture or femorotomy that can be used as a companion tool to assess the risk for doing an early osteotomy of the femur.
Keywords: cementless stem; femorotomy; hip revision; individual risk prediction; prognostic score.
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