Hip Resurfacing Arthroplasty in Inflammatory Arthritis

The success of hip resurfacing in younger patients with primary osteoarthritis has paved the way for the trial of the procedure in patients with secondary osteoarthritis of the hip. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical and radiologic results in a cohort of 23 patients (32 hips) with inflammatory arthritis who were chosen for hip resurfacing after normalizing vitamin D levels and ruling out proximal femoral osteopenia using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. At a minimum follow-up of 3 years, there was failure in only 1 hip due to fracture of the femoral neck attributable to osteonecrosis of the remnant head. The clinical outcome was evaluated using Harris hip score and was found to be good to excellent in 30 of 31 hips. Hip resurfacing is a promising alternative in carefully chosen patients with inflammatory arthritis.