Cross-linked poly / Dr Pritchett

[ro_bro]

I've been reading this forum for a while, but it's my first time posting. I know there are few Dr Pritchett's patient's here with cross-linked poly devices. I'm considering a surgery with him and this device is an option (along with BHR). I'm a male, 49mm femoral head, so either device should work, according to Dr P. He didn't express a preference. I'm leaning towards the poly device. Anyone had issues with those devices? How about returning to sports? I've seen several success stories, and hope everyone is still doing well!  I'm 43y.o. and active (cross-country skiing, hiking, CrossFit), but prone to auto-immune issues and allergies, so MoM sound riskier to me.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences!

[catfriend]

I'm a female patient of Dr. Pritchett's. I had the Synovo device implanted nearly 3 (!) years ago. Absolutely no problems whatsoever. It feels like a completely normal, natural hip that never had arthritis. I hike during the summer. I can dance. Or jump up and down. I haven't been cross country skiing in years (not a big fan of the cold), but would not hesitate to do so if I desired. There are some of Dr. P's patients on this site who run (Paprika springs to mind, but there are others) who run regularly. My resurfaced hip is not a consideration for any physical activity I wish to do. Good luck!

[grants]

I am a 52 year old male patient and just had surgery with Dr. Pritchett 5 weeks ago and went with the cross-poly which his bias at least for me.  He would have done either though, cross-poly or BHR.  I struggled with which way to go and asked about a thousand questions , all of which he patiently answered.  I am athletically oriented and so a performance outcome was very important for me.  In recovery mode now.  If you want to DM with any questions, please feel free to do so.

Grant

[ro_bro]

Thanks grants and catsfriend!
It's very encouraging to hear that you are doing great! I know Dr P  was using poly devices for a while (more than 10 years). I was wondering if there are  people on the forum who had this device for long time and can speak about its' longer term  performance ?

[John C]

I am not an expert on this, but I would confirm with Dr Pritchett as to whether those older poly devices he used many years ago are relevant to the new ones. I know that he was very involved with the early poly devices many years ago, I think as far back as in the 1970s. Those older designs used non-cross linked poly, and did not hold up well at all. I think that Dr Pritchett's belief is that the new cross linked poly with its vastly superior wear characteristics are so much better than the older ones, that they are not really a fair comparison. I am not sure how long he has been using the current type, but I would suggest limiting your comparisons to the current model, and not try to do any comparisons with older devices that used non-cross linked poly.
As I said, I am far from an expert on this, so I would confirm this with Dr Pritchett's office. I just did not want you getting scared off if you started looking into data from the older devices.