The Incidence and Temporal Trends of Dislocation After the Use of Constrained Acetabular Components and Dual Mobility Implants in Primary Total Hip Replacements: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Observational Studies

Dislocation after a primary total hip replacement (pTHR) remains a common cause of treatment failure. Constrained acetabular components (CACs) and dual mobility implants (DMIs) may mitigate this in patients at high risk of dislocation or with significant intraoperative instability. This meta-analysis evaluated the incidence and temporal trends of dislocation after implantation with CACs and DMIs in pTHR.

Longitudinal studies reporting dislocation after the use of CACs or DMIs in pTHR were sought from Medline and Embase to September 2020. Secondary outcomes included revision surgery for dislocation and for all causes.

A total of 46 studies (3 CAC and 43 DMI) comprising 582 CACs and 18,748 DMIs were included. The pooled incidence of dislocation was 1.08% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.00-3.72; range 0.27%-2.60%) over a weighted mean follow-up of 4.1 years for CACs, compared with 0.25% (95% CI: 0.08-0.46; range 0.00%-4.72%) over 6.2 years for DMIs. For DMIs, there was a temporal decline in dislocations from the 1980s onward, and dislocation rates remained low (<1%) until 15 years postoperatively. There were insufficient data for similar analysis of CACs. All studies were at high risk of bias. The incidence of revision for dislocation after CACs was 0.3% vs 0.1% for DMIs, and the incidence of revision for all causes after CACs was 4.8% vs 2.7% for DMIs.

DMIs demonstrated a lower incidence of dislocation compared with CACs; however, there was a relative absence of CACs used in the context of pTHR in the literature. Temporal trends in dislocation have improved over time for DMIs.