Delayed fracture of the ceramic femoral head after trauma

There are various ways in which a total hip arthroplasty may fail catastrophically. Failure of the ceramic femoral head component is well known and described. It may fail because of trauma, but delayed fracture after trauma has not been described previously. This case report describes this phenomenon and postulates a possible mechanism for this failure. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.