Catherine Lee Hayter1, Matthew F. Koff1,
Kevin F. Koch2, Parina Shah1, Edwin P. Su3,
Hollis G. Potter1,4
1Department of Radiology
& Imaging, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY, United States; 2Applied
Science Laboratory, General Electric Healthcare, Waukesha, WI, United States;
3Center for Hip Pain & Preservation, Hospital for Special
Surgery, New York, NY, United States; 4Weill Cornell Medical
College of Cornell University, New York, NY, United States
Metal-on-metal hip resurfacing is associated with specific complications, including metal hypersensitivity which may manifest as synovitis, bursitis or osteolysis. The purpose of this prospective, observational study was to review patterns of osteolysis and synovitis in symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals following resurfacing. Synovitis was detected in a similar proportion of symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Osteolysis was only detected in symptomatic individuals. The similarities of the synovitis measurements combined with the lack of correlation with blood chromium and weak correlation with blood cobalt ion levels indicate that additional factors must be considered when determining the long term prognosis of hip resurfacing implants.