History of Total Hip Replacement

In 1923, one of the first artificial hip socket components was installed on a patient by Marius Nygaard Smith-Peterson. The cup was composed of glass and failed as time passed, but paved the way to construction of hip cups in similar fashion, only using different materials such as plastic and metal.

The next rather noticeable advance in hip surgery came from Sir John Charnley, an English surgeon, who reduced the head size of the standard femoral component. In 1962, working out of a small hospital in the countryside of England, Sir Charnley replaced an arthritic hip socket with a plastic cup and replaced the femoral head with a metal prosthesis. This total hip replacement procedure was the first of its kind. Survivorship on Sir John Charnley’s patients between 20-25 years was astounding, rounding off at around 85%. The method of allowing the metal femoral head component to slide smoothly on the plastic cup surface turned out to work rather well, leading to a standard in total hip replacement surgery.

Since the successful operation performed by Sir John Charnley over forty years ago, total hip replacement surgery has come a long way. Today there are a multitude of different components, allowing for a variety of options based on a patient’s specific needs.