A Prospective Randomized Clinical Trial Assessing Thigh Pain and Stress Shielding in Proximal Tapered Versus Fully Coated Cylindrical Femoral Components

S.J.M. MacDonald, London, ON
C.H. Rorabeck, London, ON
R.B. Bourne, London, ON
R.W. McCalden, London, ON
D.M. Cleland, London, ON

Controversy continues to exist regarding the choice of a cementless femoral component in a primary total hip arthroplasty. Both proximally coated tapered stems and fully coated cylindrical stems have excellent clinical results. The incidence of both thigh pain and proximal femoral stress shielding and multiple validated outcome measures were evaluated in a prospective randomized clinical trial with a minimum of two year follow-up comparing a proximally coated tapered femoral stem to a fully coated cylindrical femoral stem.