Objectives. Metal-on-metal (MoM) hip resurfacing was introduced into clinical
practice because it was perceived to be a better alternative to
conventional total hip replacement for young and active patients.
However, an increasing number of reports of complications have arisen
focusing on design and orientation of the components, the generation
of
In 2020 almost 90% of femoral heads for total hip implants in Germany were made of ceramic. Nevertheless, the cellular interactions and abrasion mechanisms in vivo have not been fully understood until now. Metal transfer from the head-neck taper connection, occurring as smear or large-area deposit, negatively influences the surface quality of the articulating bearing. In order to prevent metal transfer, damage patterns of 40 Biolox delta ceramic retrievals with CoC and CoPE bearings were analysed. A classification of damage type and severity for each component (n=40) was done according to an established scoring system. To investigate the physical properties, the surface quality was measured using confocal microscopy, quantitative analysis of phase composition were performed by Raman spectroscopy and qualitative analysis of metal traces was done by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The periprosthetic tissue was analysed for abrasion particles with SEM and EDX. Both bearing types show different damage patterns. Dotted/ drizzled metal smears were identified in 82 % of CoC (n=16) and 96 % of CoPE (n=24) bearings. Most traces on the ceramic heads were identified in the proximal area while they were observed predominantly in the distal area for the ceramic inlays. The identified marks are similar to those of metallic bearings. Metallic smears lead to an increase of up to 30 % in the monoclinic crystalline phase of the ceramic. The roughness increases by up to six times to Ra=48 nm. Ceramic and
INTRODUCTION. Squeaking after total hip replacement has been reported in up to 10% of patients. Some authors proposed that sound emissions from squeaking hips result from resonance of one or other or both of the metal parts and not the bearing surfaces. There is no reported in vitro study about the squeaking frequencies under lubricated regime. The goal of the study was to reproduce the squeaking in vitro under lubricated conditions, and to compare the in vitro frequencies to in vivo frequencies determined in a group of squeaking patients. The frequencies may help determining the responsible part of the noise. METHODS. Four patients, who underwent THR with a Ceramic-on-Ceramic THR (Trident(r), Stryker(r)) presented a squeaking noise. The noise was recorded and analysed with acoustic software (FMaster(r)). In-vitro 3 alumina ceramic (Biolox Forte Ceramtec(r)) 32 mm diameter (Ceramconcept(r)) components were tested using a PROSIM(r) hip friction simulator. The cup was positioned with a 75° abduction angle in order to achieve edge loading conditions. The backing and the cup liner were cut with a diamond saw, in order to avoid neck-head impingement and dislocation in case of high cup abduction angles (Figure1). The head was articulated ± 10° at 1 Hz with a load of 2.5kN for a duration of 300 cycles. The motion was along the edge. Tests were conducted under lubricated conditions with 25% bovine serum without and with the addition of a 3. rd. body alumina ceramic particle (200 μm thickness and 2 mm length). Before hand, engineering blue was used in order to analyze the contact area and to determine whether edge loading was achieved. RESULTS. Edge loading was obtained. In-vitro, no squeaking occurred under edge loading conditions. However, with the addition of an alumina ceramic 3. rd. body particle in the contact region squeaking was obtained at the beginning of the tests and stopped after ∼20 seconds (dominant frequency 2.6 kHz). In-vivo, recordings had a dominant frequency ranging between 2.2 and 2.4 kHz. DISCUSSION. For the first time, squeaking was reproduced in vitro under lubricated conditions. In-vitro noises followed edge loading and 3. rd. body particles and despite, the severe conditions, squeaking was intermittent and difficult to reproduce. However, squeaking is probably more difficult to reproduce because the cup was cut and the head was fixed in the simulator, preventing vibration to occur. Squeaking noises of a similar frequency were recorded in-vitro and in-vivo. The lower frequency of squeaking recorded in-vivo, demonstrates a potential damping effect of the soft tissues. Therefore, the squeaking in the patients was probably related to the bearing surfaces and modified lubrication conditions that may be due to edge loading. Varnum et al reported recently (3) that all the revised squeaking patients had a neck-cup impingement with metal 3. rd. body
Purpose. Complete wear-out of Polyethylene (PE) liner results in severe metallosis following articulation of the artificial head with the acetabular metal shell. We postulated that an adverse response can be led to surrounding bone tissue and new implant after revision surgery because the amount of PE wear particle is substantial and the metal particles are infiltrated in this catastrophic condition. We evaluated clinical characteristics and the survival rate of revision total hip arthroplasty (THA) performed in patients with severe metallosis following failure of PE liner. Materials and Methods. Between January 1996 and August 2004, severe metallosis following complete wear-out of PE liner were identified during revision THA in 28 hips of 28 patients. One patient had died at 7 days after surgery and 3 patients could not be reached at 5 year follow-up. Twenty-four hips of 24 patients (average age, 47.5 years) were followed for at least 6.5 years (average, 11.3 years; range, 6.5–15.9 years) and were evaluated. The mean time interval between prior surgery and the index revision surgery was 9.6 years (range, 4.0–14.3 years). The indications for revision surgery were osteolysis around well-fixed cup and stem in 22 hips and osteolysis with aseptic loosening of the cup in 2 hips. Bubble sign was observed on preoperative radiograph in 10 hips. Total revision, cup revision, and solitary bearing change were performed in 13, 10, and one hip respectively. A cementless implant was used in 23 hips and acetabular reinforcement ring was used in one. Clinical evaluation was performed using Harris hip scores and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed. Multivariate analysis was performed with age, gender, BMI, bone defect type, existence of bubble sign and type of revision surgery as variables to evaluate the association with osteolysis or loosening. Results. One patient who had died from an unrelated medical condition at 6.5 years had hip that were functioning well at the time of death. Average Harris hip score improved from 64.5 points preoperatively to 81.9 points at the last follow-up. Wear and osteolysis were detected at average 8.9 years (3.1–13.5 years) after revision in 14 hips. Acetabular cup was loosened in 9 hips. Re-revision of cup was performed in 5 hips and re-revision of both cup and stem was done in 2 hips. In another hip, cup removal and artificial neck cutting was performed due to severe bone loss following two times of cup re-revision. With radiographic evidence of osteolysis as the end point, the 15-year survival rate was 35.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 11.6%–59.0%). With radiographic loosening of any implant as the end point, the 15-year survival rate was 54.0% (95% CI, 27.9%–80.1%). Multivariate analysis revealed no variable that had a significant association with osteolysis or loosening. Conclusion. The survival rate of revision THA in patients with metallosis following a failure of a PE liner was low. Substantial amount of PE wear debris and the infiltration of
Metal-metal total hip replacements were commonly used in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Failures usually occurred as a result of aseptic loosening although many of these implants provided long term function similar to metal-UHMWPE bearings. Metal-metal bearings used in total hip arthroplasty are made of cobalt chrome. The volume of wear generated from a metal-metal bearing is considerably less than that from a metal-UHMWPE bearing. Factors which may affect the metal-metal wear rates include the clearance (difference in radius between the femoral head and acetabular bearing surface), surface roughness, and carbon content of the cobalt chrome alloy. A small clearance provides more contact area between the two surfaces which decreases contact stress while a large clearance permits more fluid flow into the joint. If the clearance is too small, and exceeds manufacturing tolerances, the joint articulation may become excessively tight and equatorial rather than polar contact occurs between the bearing surfaces which can increase frictional torque and cause loosening. This has been implicated as a cause of failure of the McKee-Fararr metal-metal hip replacements. Wear is also increased with increased surface roughness but the effect of other material variables such as cast vs. forged and carbon content are less clear. Early clinical results with modern metal-metal hip replacements demonstrate clinical results which are comparable to metal-UHMWPE bearings and less aseptic loosening than metal-metal designs used in the 1960’s and 1970’s. However, concerns with metal-metal hip replacements include the generation of metal particulate debris which may travel to the distal sites as well as local osteolysis. In patients with metal-polyethylene total joint replacements, metal as well as polyethylene particles can be found at distant sites. Urban et al. (1) reported that in a study of postmortem specimens from patients with metal-polyethylene total joint replacements,
