Complications of revision hip arthroplasty using fresh bone allografts

General and specific complications of revision hip arthroplasty using fresh bone allografts may affect the postoperative functional outcome to different extent. The aim of this paper was to estimate the incidence and types of intraoperative and early postoperative complications after revision hip arthroplasty, and to clinically and radiographically evaluate their influence on the final postoperative outcome. The most frequent general intraoperative complications were: femoral fracture (6.7%) and lesion of the superior gluteal artery. Anterior dislocation of the prosthesis (6.7%) and superficial infection (3.3%) were the two most frequent early postoperative complications. Of all general complications taken into account, femoral fracture, either intra or postoperative, has the worst prognosis. Bone allograft resorption, as the only specific complication encountered in this study, has a bad prognosis only if it is very extensive. The use of fresh bone allografts, prepared in a special manner, is clinically safe for revision total hip arthroplasty, if a bone bank is not available.