An experimental study of femoral cement stress in total hip replacement - influence of structural stiffness of the femoral stem

This paper describes the measurement of femoral cement stresses in model femora using embedded strain gauges. In particular the influence of the elastic modulus of the stem material is examined. The study showed that while compressive stresses in the proximal cement are increased quite markedly with lower modulus materials, the important circumferential tensile stresses in this area are only marginally affected. Furthermore, the stresses were all well below the quoted failure levels for bone cement.