Publication Date:
2011-12-24
Description:
Arthritis is a leading cause of disability, and when nonoperative methods have failed, a prosthetic implant is a cost-effective and clinically successful treatment. Metal-on-metal replacements are an attractive implant technology, a lower-wear alternative to metal-on-polyethylene devices. Relatively little is known about how sliding occurs in these implants, except that proteins play a critical role and that there is a tribological layer on the metal surface. We report evidence for graphitic material in the tribological layer in metal-on-metal hip replacements retrieved from patients. As graphite is a solid lubricant, its presence helps to explain why these components exhibit low wear and suggests methods of improving their performance; simultaneously, this raises the issue of the physiological effects of graphitic wear debris.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Liao, Y -- Pourzal, R -- Wimmer, M A -- Jacobs, J J -- Fischer, A -- Marks, L D -- 1RC2AR058993-01/AR/NIAMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2011 Dec 23;334(6063):1687-90. doi: 10.1126/science.1213902.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60201, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22194573" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip
;
Biocompatible Materials
;
Cattle
;
Corrosion
;
Friction
;
Graphite/*analysis
;
*Hip Prosthesis/adverse effects
;
Humans
;
Metal Nanoparticles
;
Prosthesis Design
;
Prosthesis Failure
;
Serum
;
Spectroscopy, Electron Energy-Loss
;
Spectrum Analysis, Raman
;
Surface Properties
;
*Vitallium
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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