Background: There have been few studies evaluating patient-reported quality of life outcomes after hip revision with impaction bone grafting.
Patients and methods: The inclusion criteria were aseptic loosening after primary arthroplasty performed for osteoarthrosis, and first-time revision with impacted morselized allograft bone and cemented Exeter stem. During a 4-year period, 35 patients were eligible and all were included. The Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) was completed by the patients and the Charnley hip scores recorded by the examining surgeon preoperatively, after 6 months and yearly up to 4 years (28 patients) postoperatively. For comparison, 35 osteoarthrotic patients completed the NHP 4 years after cemented Exeter primary arthroplasty.
Results: At 4 years, the NHP scores for the revision patients did not differ significantly from those recorded in the primary arthroplasty group. Among the revision patients, mixed model analysis showed improvement in NHP pain (p < 0.001) and physical mobility scores (p = 0.002). The effect size at 4 years was large for pain (1.2) and moderate for physical mobility (0.6). The major improvement was recorded at 6 months, with no further substantial change observed. The correlations between the NHP and Charnley scores were weak or moderate (r, -0.15 to -0.67).
Interpretation: Hip revision with impaction bone grafting leads to substantially improved quality of life, similar to that 4 years after primary arthroplasty.