Abstract

This report presents the case of a patient in whom hip resurfacing arthroplasty failed because of loosening of the acetabular shell secondary to debonding of the surface coating. During normal function, there will inevitably be cyclic shear stress between the coating and the surrounding bone. This might result in fatigue failure of the bond. In spite of increasing numbers of porous coated acetabular shells being implanted, little is known about the fatigue performance of the interface between coating and implant.