Potential candidates for the clinical trial must be at least 21 years old and have all other indications for a hip replacement. One recent recipient was a 31-year old woman who had developmental hip dysplasia. As an adolescent, she underwent an osteotomy, which improved the function and comfort of her ball and socket, but that eventually failed. With the average age of hip prosthesis candidates being 65, Garino hopes this new development cuts down on the number of revisions with the associated bone loss, risk of infection, rehabilitation and cost to the patient and society. Younger patients, however, may get the most benefit.
Younger people are more active.
They take more steps and the quality of those steps is more intense. These are their best years, and they will benefit more from a more durable prosthesis. Right now, our ceramic hip patients have been doing very well, but not better than others. We hope that in 15 years, when other prostheses begin to fail and patients come in for revisions, these will keep on ticking.