On the biomechanical stability of cementless straight conical hip stems

The aim of the present study was to investigation in vitro the effect of deficient bone-implant contact on the primary stability of a straight conical stem. Various possible deficient contact patterns were derived from surgical simulations. The effect of stair climbing loads on the bone-implant micromotion was firstly investigated using a finite element model and then an in vitro test aimed at assessing primary stability. It was found that if the surface features are prevented from biting dense bone in a few small but critical regions, stem primary stability is completely lost. These results suggest that the surface features used in the axisymmetric stem under investigation can be too sensitive to deficient contact conditions, and thus should be augmented with additional antirotational fins. Preliminary tests showed that a stem with the addition of such fins presents good primary stability in all tested conditions.