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The White 5 trial compared implants fixed with bone cement against uncemented implants for hip fractures treated with hemiarthroplasty.

Doctor looking at total hip replacement X-ray film with blurred hospital background

Hip fracture in older people is a global problem that negatively affects patients' quality of life and places a burden on healthcare systems. In the UK there are about 70,000 hip fractures every year, and each is a potentially catastrophic event; approximately 20% of patients will die during the first year following the injury, and those who survive suffer pain and lack of mobility.

The White 5 trial, a randomised controlled trial across multiple hospitals in the UK, recruited people over age 60 with a hip fracture requiring hemiarthroplasty. 610 patients were recruited to receive the cemented treatment, and 615 to the modern uncemented treatment. The primary outcome measure was the patient's quality of life measured at 1 month, 4 months and 12 months.

Published in The New England Journal of Medicine the study found that patients having the cemented treatment showed a statistically significant improvement in quality of life at a month and 4 months, but less difference at 12 months. Secondary fractures at the site of the implant were more common in the uncemented than cemented group. There was no difference between the two groups in terms of the number of people who died.

Read the full story on the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Sciences website