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Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Oct 18, 2025; 16(10): 111955
Published online Oct 18, 2025. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v16.i10.111955
Impact of introducing custom-made articulating spacers: A retrospective cohort study on two protocols for two-stage hip revision
Marijn H Stelwagen, Jakob Van Oldenrijk, Peter D Croughs, Erlangga Yusuf, P Koen Bos, Ewout S Veltman
Marijn H Stelwagen, Jakob Van Oldenrijk, P Koen Bos, Ewout S Veltman, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam 3015 GD, Netherlands
Peter D Croughs, Erlangga Yusuf, Department of Medical Microbiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam 3015 GD, Netherlands
Author contributions: Veltman ES, Bos PK, Van Oldenrijk J and Stelwagen MH designed the study; Stelwagen MH collected the data and performed the statistical analysis, supervised by all authors; Stelwagen MH prepared the manuscript, all authors contributed to the draft and revision of the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and has been evaluated by the local review board. This type of study is exempt from medical ethics review under Dutch law (niet-WMO).
Informed consent statement: The need for patient consent was waived due to the retrospective nature of the study. All data were fully anonymized prior to analysis.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Marijn H Stelwagen, MD, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Erasmus Medical Center, Molewaterplein 40, Rotterdam 3015 GD, Netherlands. m.stelwagen@erasmusmc.nl
Received: July 14, 2025
Revised: July 29, 2025
Accepted: September 9, 2025
Published online: October 18, 2025
Processing time: 94 Days and 13.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This retrospective cohort study compares two consecutive treatment protocols for two-stage hip revision in periprosthetic joint infection: One using only Girdlestone and another incorporating custom-made articulating spacers (CUMARS) whenever possible, or a Girdlestone when necessary. While infection eradication rates were similar, the introduction of CUMARS was associated with shorter hospital stays, earlier mobilization, and more frequent discharge to home. These results suggest that CUMARS facilitates a faster recovery for suitable patients and reduce healthcare burden without compromising infection control, making them a valuable addition to the treatment algorithm. For patients with contraindications, a Girdlestone remains a viable option.