Built to Last: Why joint replacement is better and more popular than ever
Maloney, the Boswell Chair of Orthopaedics, was able to replace the hip with confidence despite the patient’s young age, knowing the newly developed plastic-lined joint would have a longer lifespan than its predecessors. That was nearly two decades ago.
“She was finally able to run and play basketball,” he said. “I saw her recently and she’s got a child of her own. We X-rayed the hip and it looks like the day we put it in. It should last forever.”
Chloe, whose name has been changed at her request, received her hip replacement in the early days of this ongoing “polyethylene period” — marked by the advent of a seemingly wear-resistant plastic perfect for replicating the smooth, frictionless movement cartilage naturally provides to a hip socket, knee joint or shoulder. It supplanted earlier forms of plastic that often wore down and caused osteolysis — where the immune system’s attack on stray plastic particles instead dissolved the surrounding bone and triggered an onslaught of revision surgeries.
