Hip prosthetic loosening: A very personal review

Figure 3 Graph shows how prosthetic micromovements cause a focal osteolysis. The prosthetic micromovements (orange arrows) pump joint fluid under high pressure (orange dashed arrows) from the gap between the stem and the cement through a defect in the cement mantle. The pressure waves may devitalize the adjacent bone tissue, which is resorbed, thus causing a focal osteolysis. From Mjöberg[53] with permission.