Hydroxyapatite coating improves 8- to 10-year performance of the link RS cementless femoral stem

In a prospective randomized clinical study, 12 hydroxyapatite (HA)-coated and 8 identical but noncoated stems were implanted in 20 patients. At 8- to 10-year follow-up, the HA-coated stems displayed excellent clinical and radiographic results in 11 out of 12 patients, whereas 7 out of 8 noncoated stems were failures and had been subject to revision. Despite the small number of patients in this series, HA coating seems to improve the long-term stable fixation of uncemented femoral implants.