Cemented acetabular reconstruction with the Müller support ring. A minimum five-year clinical and roentgenographic follow-up study

In a previous study, the results of cemented acetabular reconstruction with a Müller support ring were reported after a mean follow-up period of 40 months. The current report concerns a minimum five-year follow-up study of the same 43 patients. Two early failures at four months and at 17 months were related to poor surgical technique. The latest overall functional results, according to the Merle d'Aubigné rating scale, were excellent, very good, or good in 81.82% of the hips: a drop from 86.67% since the previous report. Sequential roentgenographic analysis demonstrated a high incidence of nonprogressive radiolucencies at the cement-bone interface. These nonprogressive radiolucencies did not correlate with the overall functional results. The progression of a radiolucency at the cement-bone interface, however, or the appearance of radiolucencies around the screw threads, always resulted in clinical failure.