Arthroplasty options for the young patient: Oxinium on cross-linked polyethylene.

Our purpose was to determine whether metal femoral heads scratch with in vivo use, to characterize the scratching that occurs, and to determine whether this scratching affected polyethylene wear. Assessment of 133 consecutive retrieved femoral heads showed that metal femoral heads do scratch with in vivo use, that cobalt-chromium femoral heads are more scratch resistant than titanium alloy heads, and that scratching seems to be time dependent. Profilmetry studies showed that all roughness parameters (average roughness, maximum peak to lowest valley distance, mean peak height above the mean surface line, estimate of small peaks above the main plateau of the surface, and estimate of the depth of the valleys below the mean plateau of the surface with the exception of the symmetry of the profile about its mean line) showed increased roughness with time of use. Cobalt-chromium and Oxinium femoral heads were damaged in a dislocation model. Assessment of these femoral heads in a wear simulator revealed that against conventional polyethylene, a damaged Oxinium femoral head had no more wear than a new cobalt-chromium articulation on the same polyethylene (36.5/million cycles versus 38.4 mm/million). Against cross-linked polyethylene, a damaged Oxinium femoral head had minimal wear (1.5 mm cubed per Mc).

Alumina hip joints characterized by run-in wear and steady-state wear to 14 million cycles in hip-simulator model.

The biphasic wear performance (run-in; steady-state phase) of 28-mm alumina-alumina hip implants was studied by hip simulator methods using bovine serum as the lubricant. The Biolox implants were run to 5.7 million cycles and Bioceram implants to 14.4 million cycles (Mc). Wear with all-alumina total hip replacements (THR) first showed a high wear rate of the order 1.2 mm3/Mc, lasting approximately 0.17 Mc. Overall to 0.7 Mc, the run-in phase appeared curvilinear but could be described by a linear phase averaging 0.3 mm3/Mc. From 0.7 to 1 Mc duration, the wear trend transitioned into a steady-state phase. Wear rates from 1 to 14 Mc were of the order 0.02 mm3/Mc. Surface contamination from the serum lubricant resulted in cyclic weight fluctuations of the order 0.2 mg. The transition from average run-in to steady-state phase represented a wear reduction of 13-fold. Comparing the steady-state wear value to that in standard 28-mm UHMWPE CUPS approaching 75 mm3/year, there was clearly a three-orders-of-magnitude wear superiority in favor of ceramic cups.

Cobalt ions influence proliferation and function of human osteoblast-like cells.

Cobalt is the major component in many orthopedic implants and the introduction of a second generation of metal on metal bearing prosthesis systems actualizes the toxicity and biocompatibility of this compound. We studied the effect of cobalt ions on primary cultures of human osteoblast-like cells. Cobalt ions dissolved in cell culture medium caused a dose-dependent decrease in proliferation of human osteoblasts measured as (3H)thymidine incorporation. We also found that cobalt ion-enriched medium increased the production of interleukin-6 from the osteoblast-like cells. Furthermore, incubation of osteoblasts with cobalt ion-enriched medium reduced collagen type I and osteocalcin production in a dose-dependent manner when 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin-D3 was added to the culture medium. Cobalt concentrations below 10 microg/mL or 0.17 mmollmL in the cell culture medium had no significant effect on human osteoblast proliferation and function.

Micro-wear patterns on UHMWPE tibial inserts in total knee joint simulation.

The objective of this study was to examine both simulator and retrieved total knee replacement polyethylene inserts to confirm, using scanning electron microscopy, whether similar micro-wear patterns to those seen on retrieved inserts were reproduced on simulator specimens. The simulator specimens consisted of samples subjected to sliding and rolling movement (Experiment 1) and to sliding movement only (Experiment 2). Samples from Experiment 1 demonstrated longitudinal patterns in the middle of the wear track and transverse patterns in the anterior and posterior ends, whereas in Experiment 2, only transverse patterns were observed. In the retrieved specimens, both longitudinal and transverse patterns were observed. The results showed that the simulator study reproduced similar patterns of micro-damage on polyethylene, and that the longitudinal micro-wear pattern was related to the rolling movement that is distinctive in knee kinematics.