I am a physical therapy student assigned the task of finding out if there is any known reason why our cadaver for anatomy lab has pelvic osteolysis on the left side. She does have a total hip replacement on that side. I haven’t found much to support this idea on the internet. What can you tell me?

There have been many controversies and debates over post-operative effects from cemented implants for total hip replacements. Revision rates and survivorship have been compared recently for cemented implants versus cementless implants. It appears that cemented implants may last longer than cementless ones. Perhaps long enough to form bone osteolysis in the nearby bone.

Bone osteolysis and neurologic problems from the cement have been explored in the past, so we have some information to offer about this. Osteolysis refers to the breakdown or dissolving of bone. For some time, it was thought that perhaps the cement used to hold hip replacement implants in place was responsible for pelvic osteolysis. This problem was referred to as “cement disease.” But over time, studies showed that bone osteolysis developed just as often in patients who had cementless components.

Eventually, it was discovered that wear on the polyethylene (plastic) cup used to replace the hip socket was part of the problem. Increased fluid flow into the joint causing expansion forces in the joint was determined to be another factor contributing to bone osteolysis around the hip replacement.

There may be other factors involved with your particular cadaver. But without full medical records, this is only conjecture and speculation.