Aim: Which implants and fixation techniques should be recommended in total hip replacements in children, adolescents and young adults?
Methods: A literature survey served to elucidate the results of recent papers in total hip arthroplasty (THA) over the last three decades. For this literature review the following items were used for a MedLine inquiry: "young patient", "children", "adolescents", "hip arthroplasty", "total hip replacement" and "hip endoprosthesis". Different disorders, implant types and surgical techniques were compared and discussed.
Results: Although some authors still favor a cementing fixation technique forA'acetabular shell and stem components in total hip replacements for young patients, most results of the present studies show the effectiveness of cementless fixation techniques. The indication for or against an implant should be include the preexisting diseases, daily activity, abnormal anatomic findings and consider the patient's expectations. Most studies investigated inhomogeneous probands treated with different implant types and are therefore of only limited appropriateness for reliable conclusions.
Conclusions: Cementless fixation in THA is a sufficient technique in total hip replacement in young patients. There are only few data available in the literature dealing with the outcome of one implant type within a defined clinical picture.