Ceramic Hip Replacement

Ceramic total hip replacement is not so new development in orthopedic surgery. These implants are designed to address some of the problems with conventional total hip replacement implants.

In the traditional (uncemented or cemented) metal and plastic hip replacement, the plastic wears out slowly over time (average 0.1 mm per year). Wearing out of plastic generates huge amount of small plastic particles (millions of particles). Over the years these plastic particles debris accumulates and trigger body response, which ultimately leads to osteolysis and loosening of implant.

Ceramic hip replacements have been developed in an effort to decrease the wearing out of hip implants. The wear rate of ceramic hip implants is much less in comparison to conventional total hip implants, therefore, it is anticipated that these improved wear characteristics will result in a longer lasting implant.

Dr Vivek Mittal Ceramic Hip Replacement

Ceramic hip replacement is a good option in young and high demand patients with hip arthritis, as they are at high risk for early wearing out of the hip implant.

There are few issues with ceramic hip implants. As the ceramic hip implant material is hard and brittle, it can crack leading to either fracture of the ceramic head or liner (much like a ceramic dish dropped on a tile floor). The other issue is squeaking noise from the ceramic on ceramic implant, which can be very annoying. However, both these issues are much less with current generation of delta ceramic.