A review of the clinical and engineering performance of dual-mobility cups for total hip arthroplasty

Charnley’s low-friction principle of total hip arthroplasty (THA) is recognized as the gold standard. However, complications may arise, and one of the major reasons for revising THA is dislocation. Under such a background, Pr. Gilles Bousquet invented dual-mobility cups (DMC) in the 1970s to fight against hip instability. Despite the excellent clinical results of DMC compared with conventional implants, the clinical application of DMC is limited by concerns about the dual articulations, leading to rapid wear and the subsequent osteolysis and the wear on the retaining rim of the liner due to its contact with the femoral neck causing intraprosthetic dislocation (IPD). As a result, the original design of DMC has been upgraded by using highly cross-linked polyethylene, refining the geometry of the femoral neck, etc. After the improvement, the wear rate of the contemporary DMC liners has been largely reduced compared with the first generation DMC, and the IPD incidence rate has been controlled. However, with the increasing fretting corrosion damage found at the taper-trunnion interfaces in conventional implants, the contemporary DMC may face a similar problem. This is because the additional articulation and the larger head design of DMC gain the risk of articulation wear and taper-trunnion interface corrosion. Since there are still many potential DMC engineering issues that have not been extensively researched, future studies focusing on the wear and corrosion aspects are required. The purpose of this review article is to summarize both the clinical and engineering issues for DMC with possible directions for future research.