Hip Resurfacing isn't a new concept
The BIRMINGHAM HIP is not the first total hip resurfacing ever developed. Although it has the longest clinical heritage of modern metal-on-metal hip resurfacings currently available, the BIRMINGHAM HIP is actually a combination of two ideas that were tried and abandoned. The first idea is the concept of total resurfacing and the second is the use of metal-on-metal for a bearing.
The first implants used to treat arthritis, or wear of the hip cartilage, were resurfacing components. During these early years, hip replacements were being used when the leg was fractured near the hip joint and the bone could not be fixed. The hip replacements had lower levels of loosening and became used for arthritis as well.
Metal on polyethylene hip replacements were introduced to try to decrease friction. At the same time, bone cement started being used to hold the implants, and the success of metal-poly THR devices made hip surgery much more common. It also made metal-on-metal joints nearly disappear from the market. Different designers tried to use a metal-on-poly bearing in hip resurfacing components, but because the polyethylene had to be very thin, these implants had severe wear. This all but eliminated the use of resurfacing until the BIRMINGHAM HIP was introduced.
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