Fatal Cobalt Cardiomyopathy Following Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty – A Brief Report with Review of Literature

Ceramic bearing surfaces are being increasingly used in young patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty. However,failures have been reported including fractures even with the newer third generation ceramics. The recommendedtreatment for fracture of ceramic bearing surfaces is complete synovectomy and revision total hip arthroplasty.However, disappointing results have also been reported with this approach. The residual ceramic particles may leadto complications. We report a fatal case of cobalt toxicity leading to cardiomyopathy secondary to the catastrophicfailure of a Cobalt-Chrome femoral head, which followed the revision of a fractured ceramic-on-ceramic total hiparthroplasty.Level of evidence: IV

Keywords:

Ceramic head fracture , Cobalt Toxicity , Fatal cardiomyopathy , Metal on Polyethylene , Revision hip arthroplasty