Wear of conventional and cross-linked ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene acetabular cups against polished and roughened CoCr femoral heads in a biaxial hip simulator

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The wear of acetabular cups made from conventional γ-sterilized, and electron-beam cross-linked ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene was studied with a biaxial hip wear simulator. The femoral heads were either polished or roughened so that they represented the type of roughening and the value of surface roughness (Ra = 0.14–0.18 μm) observed in the roughest explanted femoral heads. The lubricant was diluted calf serum, and the test length 3 million cycles. The mean wear rate and standard deviation of conventional polyethylene cups against polished and against roughened heads was 11.6 ± 0.07 and 64.4 ± 10.1 mg per 1 million cycles, respectively. The latter value closely corresponds to that measured from explanted Charnley prostheses. Against polished heads, cross-linked polyethylene cups showed net weight gain, whereas against roughened heads, their mean wear rate was 2.4 ± 0.3 mg per 1 million cycles. The mean equivalent circle diameters of polyethylene wear particles produced in the above four categories were: conventional/roughened 0.32 μm, cross-linked/roughened 0.29 μm, conventional/polished 0.28 μm, cross-linked/polished 0.23 μm. The size ranges and shapes were close to those seen in particles isolated from tissue samples. In conclusion, the tests indicated that electron-beam irradiation effectively reduces the harmful polyethylene wear particle production in total hip arthroplasty. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res (Appl Biomater) 63: 848–853, 2002
Funding Information
  • Academy of Finland Senior Research Fellowship (43328)

This publication has 13 references indexed in Scilit: