HIP ISSN 1120-7000 HIP International 2018, Vol. 28(1) 53–58 © The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.5301/hipint.5000521 journals.sagepub.com/home/hpi ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE penetraton into the bearing of more than 0.1 mm/year and unlikely in patents with head penetraton of less than 0.05 mm/year. Thus, alternatve bearings were urgently needed to reduce wear and secondary osteolysis, thereby po- tentally improving the long-term survivorship of the implant. Marathon® polyethylene was developed by Depuy Orthopaedics, Warsaw, USA (12) and was available for use with the uncemented components from 1998. The polyethylene is produced by a process of ram bar extrusion, irradiaton with 5 mrad, remeltng in a vacuum (thermal treatment at 155°C. for 24 hours), followed by machining of the fnal shape and terminal sterilisaton with gas plasma (12). This produces a moderately cross-linked HMWPE (high-molecular-weight polyethylene). In 2006, Engh et al (13) reported, in a prospectve ran- domised trial with a mean follow-up of 5.6 years, a 95% re- ducton in linear wear in the Marathon® uncemented cup when compared to the control group, which were conven- tonal non-cross-linked Enduron polyethylene liners. The re- ported wear rate was 0.01 ± 0.07 mm/year. The cemented Marathon® acetabular component was in- troduced in the UK market in 2007. There are no studies in the literature documentng wear rates of the cemented version. We report the medium term results and wear rates of the Marathon® cemented acetabu- lar component implanted at our insttuton between 2008 and 2009. Wear rate and medium-term survival of a cemented, moderately cross-linked polyethylene acetabular prosthesis Bilal M. Barkatali 1 , Dinesh P. Alexander 1 , Anil K. Gambhir 2 , Henry Wynn Jones 2 , Tim N. Board 2 1 Salford Royal Foundaton Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, Salford - UK 2 The Centre for Hip Surgery, Wrightngton, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundaton Trust, Wigan - UK Introducton Osteolysis, secondary to partculate debris released from the hip artculaton in metal on polyethylene bearings has been the most important clinical problem limitng the lon- gevity of total hip arthroplasty (1-5). Since the late 1990s, cross-linked polyethylene has steadily replaced conventonal polyethylene in hip arthroplasty (5). Highly cross-linked poly- ethylene (HXLPE) has also come to be widely accepted by surgeons as an alternatve to hard-on-hard bearings for im- proving the wear resistance of hip arthroplasty (6). It appears that HXLPE reduces the risk of osteolysis due to the improved wear characteristcs which reduces partculate debris (7-10). Dumbleton et al (11) demonstrated, from a review of the literature, that osteolysis was likely in patents with head ABSTRACT Introducton: The moderately cross-linked Depuy Marathon® cemented acetabular component was introduced into the UK in 2007. The wear rate for the previously introduced Marathon® uncemented acetabular component has been reported to range from 0.06 to 0.01 mm/year. The aim of this study was to present the medium-term results and wear rate of the Marathon® cemented pros- thesis used in primary total hip arthroplasty. Methods: 103 Marathon® cemented acetabular components were implanted between 2008 and 2009 in primary arthroplasty, who were eligible for this study. All patents received a metal 28-mm head. Mean age was 68 years (range 27-87). Mean clinical follow-up was 55 months (range 50-61). Mean radiological follow-up was 46 months (range 24-57). Wear was calculated on AP radiographs using computer-assisted uni-radiographic technique. Results: The mean wear was 0.37 mm (range 0.0-0.78 mm). The wear rate was calculated as 0.03 mm/year (95% confdence interval 0.02-0.06). Postoperatve complicatons included deep vein thrombosis (2%) and dislocaton (0.8%); there were no deep infectons. There were no revisions for failure of the Marathon® cemented acetabular component. Conclusions: The Marathon® cemented acetabular component demonstrates satsfactory wear rates and survi- vorship at medium-term follow-up. Accepted: March 22, 2017 Published online: December 1, 2017 Corresponding author: Bilal M. Barkatali Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics Salford Royal Hospital Stot Lane Salford, M6 8HD, UK bilalb1@hotmail.com