Oxidised zirconium heads show a lower linear wear rate than 28-mm metal heads against XLPE: a retrospective analysis

There were no significant differences for any of the patient demographics between the 2 groups, with >60% women in both groups and normally distributed age. Cup inclination angle was also comparable between the 2 groups.While there was no difference in volumetric wear rates (<i>p</i> = 0.7377), the annual linear wear rate for OxZr was 0.030 mm (95% CI, 0.024-0.036) compared with 0.046 mm (95% CI, 0.038-0.054) for CoCr, a statistically significant difference (<i>p</i> = 0.0002)Conclusions:The widespread use of XLPE has revolutionised THA. This study is the first to show a statistically significantly lower wear rate with the use of OxZr. Whether this is enough to justify the cost differential and whether it translates to better implant survivorship is still to be determined. But if wear limiting wear rates is associated with decreasing revision rates, the use of ceramicised metal may be of clinical benefit.