Japanese acrylic hemi-arthroplasty of the hip with a 45-year follow-up without revision

We report the case of a patient who underwent acrylic hemi-arthroplasty of the hip and survived 45 years without revision. The patient had undergone hemi-arthroplasty of the hip at the age of 17 years following failure of a previous hemi-arthroplasty at the age of 12 years. We saw her 45 years later and carried out physical examination, standard radiographs of the hip as well as computed tomography. In addition, we reviewed the literature concerning the acrylic prosthesis and discussed the reasons for long-term durability.