[The first total hip prostheses in man (1890 - 1960)]

Abstract

We owe the first total prosthesis to Th. Gluck from Berlin (1880-1890), (they were in ivory), and to Jules Pean from Paris (1890-1894) (they were in platinum and cemented with plaster and pumice). Hardly successful though they were, the idea of replacing an articulation by foreign material was born. It would take sixty years to come to a successful hip total prosthesis. In the 1930 ies, Smith-Petersen, from Boston, designed moulds to be set between the femoral head and a cotyle in glass, pyrex, Bakelite and eventually a metal cupule (vitallium) either set on to the cotyle or the femoral head. After 1940 Bohlmann and Moore were the first to replace the upper part of a femur bearing a tumour and a metal prosthesis. In 1947, Jean and Robert Judet proposed a femoral head in acrylic. The first successful femoral prosthesis (more than 50 % good results) was Moore's new metal prosthesis in 1950. In the 50ies, some surgeons had the idea of connecting the two prosthetic pieces (cupule and femoral prosthesis) to get a total prosthesis, mainly in metal (Mc Kee from Norwich in 1951 and Herbert from Aix les Bains around 1955). In 1960, Charnley used dentist's methalcrylate cement for a Moore femoral prosthesis. In 1962, Charnley used this cement for a total prosthesis, with the low-friction concept and a 22 millimeter femoral head, which could move in a polyethylene cupule. This prosthesis is still in use today, in 1999.