Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2023, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (22): 3594-3601.doi: 10.12307/2023.374

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Influence of hip-preservation surgeries on subsequent total hip arthroplasty for osteonecrosis of the femoral head

Wang Zhangzheng1, Mo Liang1, Zhou Chi1, Liu Yuhao1, Yan Hongsong1, He Wei1, 2, 3   

  1. 1First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, Guangdong Province, China; 2Hip Research Center of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, Guangdong Province, China; 3Guangdong Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Orthopedics, Guangzhou 510378, Guangdong Province, China
  • Received:2022-02-07 Accepted:2022-07-07 Online:2023-08-08 Published:2022-11-03
  • Contact: He Wei, MD, Professor, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, Guangdong Province, China; Hip Research Center of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, Guangdong Province, China; Guangdong Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Orthopedics, Guangzhou 510378, Guangdong Province, China
  • About author:Wang Zhangzheng, Master candidate, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, Guangdong Province, China
  • Supported by:
    General Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81873327 (to HW); Scientific Research Project of Guangdong Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 20221136 (to LYH); Innovation and Strong Hospital Project of First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, No. 2019IIT06 (to HW) 

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Hip-preservation surgery is an important method for the treatment of young patients with early femoral head necrosis. However, there are many types of hip-preservation surgery, and all kinds of hip-preservation surgery have their own limitations and inevitable failure rate. Some patients received poor results after hip-preservation surgery, and had to undergo total hip arthroplasty.  
OBJECTIVE: To review the research progress on the influence of various hip-preservation surgeries on subsequent total hip arthroplasty for osteonecrosis of the femoral head.
BACKGROUND: Hip-preservation surgery is an important method for the treatment of young patients with early femoral head necrosis. However, there are many types of hip-preservation surgery, and all kinds of hip-preservation surgery have their own limitations and inevitable failure rate. Some patients received poor results after hip-preservation surgery, and had to undergo total hip arthroplasty.  
OBJECTIVE: To review the research progress on the influence of various hip-preservation surgeries on subsequent total hip arthroplasty for osteonecrosis of the femoral head.
METHODS:  Databases of Embase, CNKI and PubMed were searched with the key words of “osteonecrosis of the femoral head, hip-preservation surgery, core decompression, bone grafting, osteotomy, porous tantalum implantation, hip resurfacing arthroplasty” in Chinese and English, respectively. By reading the titles and abstracts, repetitive studies and low-quality or irrelevant articles were excluded. Finally, 58 articles were included for reviewing.  
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) At present, the clinical application of hip-preservation surgery mainly includes core decompression, non-vascularized bone grafting, vascularized bone grafting, osteotomy, tantalum rod implantation and other categories, and different hip-preservation surgeries have their own characteristics and different influences on subsequent total hip arthroplasty. (2) As a “minimally invasive” operation, simple core decompression has little impact on subsequent total hip arthroplasty, but it may change the bone structure in the intertrochanteric region and increase the risk of intraoperative fracture in total hip arthroplasty. (3) Residual bone graft materials (especially fibula graft) in bone grafting affected the opening and expansion of medullary cavity and placement of femoral stem prosthesis during total hip arthroplasty. Vascularized bone grafting (especially musculoskeletal flap graft) increased the trauma of soft tissue, which was not conducive to the functional recovery of hip joint after total hip arthroplasty. (4) Osteotomy has the greatest influence on subsequent total hip arthroplasty, because it causes greater local soft tissue trauma and femoral deformity. Total hip arthroplasty after osteotomy is relatively difficult, and compared with other hip-preservation surgeries, osteotomy has disadvantages based on its influence on subsequent total hip arthroplasty. (5) There is a problem that the removal of tantalum rod implants increases the difficulty of total hip arthroplasty in the follow-up, and although the study found that the residual tantalum fragments did not increase the linear wear rate of the prosthesis in the short term, we still need to pay attention to the long-term effects of residual tantalum fragments. (6) Although all types of hip-preservation surgeries increase the difficulty of subsequent total hip arthroplasty to a certain extent, literature reports are generally positive. There is no literature report that previous hip-preservation surgery is not conducive to the prosthesis survival rate and hip function score after subsequent total hip arthroplasty, and total hip arthroplasty can still be used as a reliable treatment after hip preservation failure.
Databases of Embase, CNKI and PubMed were searched with the key words of “osteonecrosis of the femoral head, hip-preservation surgery, core decompression, bone grafting, osteotomy, porous tantalum implantation, hip resurfacing arthroplasty” in Chinese and English, respectively. By reading the titles and abstracts, repetitive studies and low-quality or irrelevant articles were excluded. Finally, 58 articles were included for reviewing.  
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) At present, the clinical application of hip-preservation surgery mainly includes core decompression, non-vascularized bone grafting, vascularized bone grafting, osteotomy, tantalum rod implantation and other categories, and different hip-preservation surgeries have their own characteristics and different influences on subsequent total hip arthroplasty. (2) As a “minimally invasive” operation, simple core decompression has little impact on subsequent total hip arthroplasty, but it may change the bone structure in the intertrochanteric region and increase the risk of intraoperative fracture in total hip arthroplasty. (3) Residual bone graft materials (especially fibula graft) in bone grafting affected the opening and expansion of medullary cavity and placement of femoral stem prosthesis during total hip arthroplasty. Vascularized bone grafting (especially musculoskeletal flap graft) increased the trauma of soft tissue, which was not conducive to the functional recovery of hip joint after total hip arthroplasty. (4) Osteotomy has the greatest influence on subsequent total hip arthroplasty, because it causes greater local soft tissue trauma and femoral deformity. Total hip arthroplasty after osteotomy is relatively difficult, and compared with other hip-preservation surgeries, osteotomy has disadvantages based on its influence on subsequent total hip arthroplasty. (5) There is a problem that the removal of tantalum rod implants increases the difficulty of total hip arthroplasty in the follow-up, and although the study found that the residual tantalum fragments did not increase the linear wear rate of the prosthesis in the short term, we still need to pay attention to the long-term effects of residual tantalum fragments. (6) Although all types of hip-preservation surgeries increase the difficulty of subsequent total hip arthroplasty to a certain extent, literature reports are generally positive. There is no literature report that previous hip-preservation surgery is not conducive to the prosthesis survival rate and hip function score after subsequent total hip arthroplasty, and total hip arthroplasty can still be used as a reliable treatment after hip preservation failure.

Key words: osteonecrosis of the femoral head, hip-preservation surgery, total hip arthroplasty, bone graft, medullary decompression, tantalum, femur, fibula

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