Aim. Until now, there has been no consensus as to whether stemmed
acetabular components are appropriate for use in patients undergoing
revision total hip arthroplasty (THA) who have major acetabular
defects or pelvic discontinuity. We wished to address this deficiency
in the literature. Patients and Methods. We carried out a retrospective study of 35 patients (six men
and 29 women) with a mean age of 68 years (37 to 87), with major
acetabular defects who underwent revision THA between 2000 and 2012. Results. At a mean follow-up of 63 months (24 to 141), a total of 15 patients
(43%) had required at least one further operation. Six implants
(17%) loosened aseptically, four (11%) were further revised for
infection and two (6%) for technical failure. By taking revision
for any reason as the endpoint, the rate of survival of the implant
was 61% after five years; by taking revision for aseptic loosening
as the end point, it was 78%. The cumulative five-year survival
for aseptic loosening was 94% in patients without pelvic discontinuity,
and 56% in those with pelvic discontinuity. Conclusion. These results indicate a significantly worse survival in patients
with pelvic discontinuity (p = 0.020) and we advise caution in the
use of the
