Bone cement is a type of "grout" or filler used to anchor the parts of the artifical hip joint into bone. It does not work like glue. Cement has been used since the early sixties when the artificial hip replacement in its modern form was first developed by Sir John Charnley in this country. Most of the published research concerning the long term results of artifical hip replacement have been carried out in patients where the cement has been used during the operation. It is not unusual to see patients whose hip and cement has been functioning satisfactorily with no adverse side effects for over 25 years.
The chemical name of the cement is polymethylmethacrylate called PMMA in short. It is available to the surgeon as two separate components, one liquid and the other a powder, which have to be mixed into a paste just prior to use. The mixing takes about a minute or so and it is another 3-4 minutes before the mixture can be worked with. It takes about 12 minutes to set at which point it becomes extremely hard alsmost like concrete. It is inserted in a paste form into the bone cavity and pressed into the tiny bone cavities. The artificial hip component is then placed into the cement and held still while it sets.
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