Stable fixation but unpredictable bone remodelling around the Lord stem: minimum 23-year follow-up of 66 total hip arthroplasties.

Early designs of uncemented hip implants turned out to be failures mainly because the prerequisites for durable implant fixation were unknown. One exception was the chrome-cobalt stem of the Madreporic Lord prosthesis. We prospectively studied this prosthetic design in 107 hips that underwent surgery in 1979-1986. At the last follow-up, five stems and 54 cups had been revised, corresponding to stem and cup survival rates of 92%±3% and 45%±5% at 26years. In all, 66 hips with remaining Lord stems were available for clinical follow-up 26years (24-29) after the index operation. The mean total Harris hip and pain scores were 81 (SD 14) and 41 (SD 5).