The Impact of Contaminating Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) (PMMA) Bone Cements on Their Compressive Strength

Abstract

This study presents an analysis of the impact of doping bone cement with saline. The two-ingredient cement, made right before the surgery, is subject to various kinds of organic contaminants and liquids used in the operating area, such as saline used to cleanse or cool it, during the process of mounting the prosthesis or bone-filling procedures. The processes of experimental destructive testing and statistical analysis have shown that, depending on the degree of saline doping, the static compressive strength parameters may greatly improve (with a low degree of contamination) or significantly worsen (when the contamination degree is higher). The limit value of the degree of salt admixture was estimated (2%), with which no statistically significant differences were observed in the cement strength in relation to the strength of non-contaminated cement.

Evaluation of the Effect of Selected Physiological Fluid Contaminants on the Mechanical Properties of Selected Medium-Viscosity PMMA Bone Cements

“…Research to improve the performance of bone cements involving the admixing of different materials often leads to modification of the cement material by chemical means [ 34 , 35 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ]. In the case of the admixtures with saline and blood described in this paper, the nature of which may be accidental and unintentional, a change in the mechanical properties of the cements was also recorded, but its reasons should not be sought in chemical interactions.…”

“…The precooled monomer and liquid part of the cement were mixed by hand at temperature of 20 °C for time of approx. 2 min, keeping in mind the working times for manual mixing of each cement [ 35 ] ( Figure 1 ). The bone cement was mixed with physiological fluid.…”

“…Despite optimized cement preparation and proper pre-cementing technique, the biomechanical properties of the bone cement used appear to be very important in preventing aseptic loosening of the implant [ 26 , 27 ]. The mechanical properties of bone cements may be affected by factors such as antibiotic content; intentionally introduced admixtures [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]; or contaminants present in the surgical field such as blood, bone tissue fragments, saline solution [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ] or commonly used lavage solutions [ 37 ], as well as the mixing process itself [ 38 , 39 , 40 ] and the preparation of the cement for implantation. Intensive research is currently being conducted to improve the thermal, mechanical and biological properties of bone cements [ 16 ].…”

Low-Cost Cranioplasty—A Systematic Review of 3D Printing in Medicine

“…Adding PMMA powder to other additive manufacturing processes can increase the porosity of parts and thus increase bone ingrowth [ 199 ]. PMMA, due to its high biocompatibility, is a useful material in dentistry and orthopedics [ 200 , 201 , 202 , 203 ]. Prostheses made with this technique adequately protect the tissues and present a mechanical strength analogous to natural human bone [ 122 ].…”

Analysis and Assessment of Aluminum and Aluminum-Ceramic Foams Structure

“…Their high stiffness compared to the low weight of the product is an excellent filler [16][17][18]. Due to the multiple uses of foams, neural networks are often used to analyze them to determine the relationships between various parameters [19][20][21][22][23].…”