Corrosion at the Stem-Sleeve Interface of a Modular Titanium Alloy Femoral Component as a Reason for Impaired Disengagement

Proximal Component Modularity in THA—At What Cost?: An Implant Retrieval Study

“…In contrast, the creation of a cold weld between the modular components may be beneficial in light of the reduced fretting and corrosion observed for Ti trunions; however, this presents problems when revising such a device. A recent study of S-ROM 1 THAs revealed 27% of retrieved devices could not be disassociated in theater, and while this may prevent the production of metallic debris, a key design feature of these devices is partial replacement in revision surgery [8]. We also found cold welding a problem, since we could not disassemble 22% of Ti devices without gripping them in a bench vice and hammering them repeatedly (Table 6).…”

“…The patient demographics, time in situ, and clinical reasons for revision are summarized ( Table 2). The devices were retrieved from 33 men and 23 women with an average implantation age of 23 months (range, 1-204 months) with all devices included in the study regardless of time in situ, so as not to arbitrarily introduce a cutoff time in situ and inadvertently remove devices from the study with substantial degradation mechanisms, similar to other studies [6,8,12,16]. Mean time in situ was 19 months for the Co-Cr-Mo devices and 12 months for the Ti devices.…”

“…The machine surface finishes of the stem trunions and head trunions were either ground or gramophone ( Table 1). Evaluation of the devices incorporated the following: (1) qualitative macroanalysis of the retrieved components in terms of degradation mechanisms [1,6,8,12,16,21]; (2) optical microscopy [16]; (3) micro-CT scanning of tapers to determine taper ''fit''; and (4) microstructural assessment [16].…”

Total hip arthroplasty using S-ROM prosthesis in elder patients with type C and B bone

“…10,11 Numerous metallic particles possibly would be developed as a result of the micromotion between the modular parts and were transferred to the distal end of the implant through effective joint space. Furthermore, the osteolysis resulting from these debris can be disatrous in prospect.…”

Stem-Sleeve Junction Failure of a Modular Femoral Hip System: a Retrieval Analysis

“…The difficulty encountered in dissociating the sleeve from the stem is reportedly a common issue with titanium alloy taper junctions because of cold welding [13,21]. Therefore, at some point in time, micromotion between the stem and sleeve ceased.…”