Histological findings of the femoral bone after cement removal in hip revision

Cement removal in hip revision arthroplasty is often a time-consuming procedure, lengthy and tedious. Intraoperative bone damage is one of the more common complications. In the present study, the conventional cement removal method is compared with a new method by means of a histological study concerning potential negative effects to cortical or spongious bone. Histological studies on human cadaver femurs demonstrate no deleterious effects on the endosteal bone when cement was removed with this new device. The ballistically driven chiselling system (OrthoClast) is safe to the bone stock and shows no increased risk of bone damage over the conventional technique with mallet and chisel.