With its ball-and-socket arrangement, the hip appears to be a structurally simple joint. But to the patient, and to his orthopedic surgeon, a disease-damaged hip often presents appalling problems. Surgeons have for years been inserting workable mechanical substitutes, but too often the substitute has failed, either because of faulty wearing surfaces, or because of infection that later requires the removal of the whole artificial joint.
A vastly improved artificial hip has now been devised. Using a replacement hip of his own design and a unique sterilization technique, Surgeon John Charnley, 59, of England's...
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