Simple isolation method for the bulk isolation of wear particles from metal on metal bearing surfaces generated in a hip simulator test.

Isolation and characterization of metal-on-metal (MoM) wear particles from simulator lubricants is essential to understand wear behaviour, ion release and associated corrosive activity related to the wear particles. Substantial challenges remain to establish a simple, precise and repeatable protocol for the isolation and analysis of wear particles due to their extremely small size, their tendency to agglomerate and degrade. In this paper, we describe a simple and efficient method for the bulk isolation and characterisation of wear particles from MoM bearings. Freeze drying was used to remove the large volume of water from the serum lubricant, enzymes used to digest the proteins and ultracentrifugation to finally isolate and purify the particles. The present study involved a total of eight steps for the isolation process and a wear particle extraction efficiency of 45% was achieved.

Metal-on-metal hip resurfacing: the effect of cup position and component size on range of motion to impingement.

The aim of this dry bone study was to determine the range of hip motion to impingement for different hip resurfacing cup positions and component sizes. The maximum angles of hip flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction were calculated from 3-dimensional coordinates for: 1. Cup inclination of 30 degrees , 40 degrees , 50 degrees , 60 degrees , and 70 degrees with fixed anteversion; 2. Cup anteversion of 0 degrees , 10 degrees , 25 degrees , 35 degrees , and 45 degrees with fixed inclination; and 3. 3 different component sizes on the same size dry bones. An acetabular component inclination of 50 degrees and an anteversion of 25 degrees allowed the most physiologic range of hip motion. A larger-diameter femoral component relative to the native femoral neck diameter resulted in a greater range of hip motion to impingement.