Fracture of the acetabulum during insertion of an oversized hemispherical

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component. Kim YS. Callaghan JJ. Ahn PB. Brown TD. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Iowa, Iowa City. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 77(1):111-7, 1995 Jan. A hemispherical metal-backed acetabular component that was oversized by two or four millimeters was introduced without cement into thirty fresh or embalmed cadaveric acetabula that were fifty, fifty-two, fifty-four, fifty-six, or fifty-eight millimeters in diameter. Manual tapping was used to insert the component into ten fresh and ten embalmed specimens, and a materials testing machine was used for the remaining five fresh and five embalmed specimens. The magnitude of force and the number of pulses necessary to seat the component were determined for the insertions performed with the materials testing machine; 2000 and 3000 newtons of force were required to insert the cups that were oversized by two and four millimeters, respectively. Visual and radiographic assessments were used to identify any resulting acetabular fractures. Over-all, eighteen (60 per cent) of the thirty acetabular specimens fractured. Of the eighteen fractures, only fifteen were detectable radiographically: ten on en face or lateral radiographs of the cup and five only on oblique radiographs of the cup. The remaining three fractures were apparent only after the removal of the acetabular component.