RESEARCH ARTICLE
Traumatic Ceramic Femoral Head Fracture: An Initial Misdiagnosis
Mohammad H Fard-Aghaie, Mustafa Citak, Joao Correia, Carl Haasper, Thorsten Gehrke, Daniel Kendoff*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2012Volume: 6
First Page: 362
Last Page: 365
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-6-362
DOI: 10.2174/1874325001206010362
Article History:
Received Date: 4/4/2012Revision Received Date: 22/6/2012
Acceptance Date: 24/6/2012
Electronic publication date: 10/8/2012
Collection year: 2012

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background and Purpose:
Ceramic heads are widely used in modern total hip arthroplasty (THA). Although a rare complication, fractures of ceramic heads are described in the literature, evoking uncertainties regarding the in vivo stability of this material, especially when impaction of a fractured ceramic head can lead to disastrous results.
Methods:
In this case report, we present a fracture of a ceramic head after trauma. A misinterpretation of the initial radiographs led to severe fragmentation of the ceramic head two weeks after the incident, later resulting in complete destruction of the arthroplasty.
Results and Interpretation:
Remarkably, radiographs obtained more than one year after the trauma led to this delayed diagnosis. A single radiographic evaluation, especially in patients with persistent pain after major trauma, with a ceramic head in a THA, seems to be insufficient