Reply to the letter of Dr. AJ Hall concerning "Impaction allograft with cement for the revision of the femoral component. A minimum 39-month follow-up study with the use of the Exeter stem in Asian Hips (S-J Yim et al.)"

We report the results of impaction bone grafting of the femoral side in revision total hip arthroplasty in Asian hips (South Korean patients) in which the surgery was performed with the use of the Exeter stem. The minimum follow-up was 39 months (mean, 48.4; range, 39-66). There was subsidence of the cement-graft interface (<1 mm) in three hips (5%), of the stem-cement interface (<1 mm) in 12 hips (21%) and of the stem-cement interface (1-2 mm) in 14 hips (25%). Five hips (9%) developed intraoperative femoral fracture and two hips (4%) femoral perforation in revision. The complications of femoral fracture and subsidence did not have an adverse effect on the final clinical outcomes. The impaction of fresh-frozen allograft and use of a cemented, polished, tapered stem (Exeter stem) were also successful with good clinical and radiographic outcomes in our study of Asian hips (South Korean patients). However, we used smaller stems than the usual ones used for Western patients because of the smaller femur sizes. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.