Ceramics for Prosthetic Hip and Knee Joint Replacement

Abstract

The most commonly used bearing couple in prosthetic hip or knee joint replacements consists of a cobalt–chrome (CoCr) metal alloy articulating against ultrahigh‐molecular‐weight polyethylene. Ceramics have been used as an alternative to metal‐on‐polyethylene in joint replacement surgery of arthritic hips and knees since the 1970s. In prosthetic hip and knee bearings, ceramic surfaces offer a major benefit of drastically reduced wear rates and excellent long‐term biocompatibility, which can increase the longevity of prosthetic hip and knee joints. This benefit is important clinically because hip and knee replacement has become a very common surgical procedure, particularly in the United States, and because these procedures are being increasingly performed in younger patients who place greater demands on the prosthetic bearings. However, ceramics are brittle and the risk of catastrophic bearing failure in vivo, while rare, is a major concern. Improvements in material quality, manufacturing methods, and implant design have resulted in a drastic reduction of the incidence of such failures, so that modern ceramic bearings are safe and reliable if used with components of proven design and durability. Future material improvements are actively being investigated to reduce the risk of ceramic‐bearing failures even further. The purpose of this article is to review the structure, properties, applications, and limitations of the ceramics that have been used in orthopedic bearings, and to describe the new ceramic composite materials and surface treatments that will be available for joint replacement surgery in the near future.

Hard and soft tissue responses to three different implant materials in a dog model

“…Yttriastabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (Y-TZP) are now commonly used, achieving good long-term prognosis as an artificial joint material in medical disciplines 4) . Y-TZP has superior biocompatibility because it shows little elution of metal ions 5) .…”

Medical Application of Calcium Orthophosphate Bioceramics

“…Calcium orthophosphate-based bioceramics and biomaterials are found in a variety of different applications throughout the body, covering all areas of the skeleton: dental implants, percutaneous devices and use in periodontal treatment, healing of bone defects, fracture treatment, total joint replacement (bone augmentation), orthopedics, cranio-maxillofacial reconstruction, otolaryngology, ophthalmology and spinal surgery [3][4][5][6][7]. Fig.…”

The efficiency of applications zirconia nanopowders for reinforcement of alumina

“…Использование добавки диоксида циркония в алюмооксидной матрице позво-ляет также реализовать эффект трансформационного упрочнения [2,3]. Данный эффект связан с фазовым переходом метастабильной при комнатной температуре тетрагональной кристаллической модификации ZrO 2 в стабильную моноклинную фазу, сопровождающийся увеличением объема.…”