The Risk of Cancer Following Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty

The first well‐documented case of cancer associated with total joint replacement was in a patient in whom a malignant fibrous histiocytoma developed three and one‐half years after a McKee-Farrar total hip replacement that was performed in December 19691. At least twenty-four additional cases of malignant disease occurring in association with a total hip or knee prosthesis have been reported in the English-language literature2‐20. On the basis of this small number of case reports, there is no apparent relationship between any specific implanted material and cancer.