Anin vitro investigation of diamond-like carbon as a femoral head coating

✍ Scribed by Affatato, S. ;Frigo, M. ;Toni, A.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 73 KB
• Volume: 53
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9304
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4636(2000)53:3<221::aid-jbm6>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

Wear of polyethylene acetabular components of hip implants is a significant clinical problem. In prosthetic hip surgery, polyethylene wear is identified as a factor that limits the life of the implant; it is known that the production of debris can cause adverse tissue reactions that may lead to extensive bone loss around the implant, and consequently loosening of the fixation. A new class of so-called Diamond-Like Carbon coatings, applied to titanium femoral heads was compared to ceramic and metallic heads in terms of wear behavior against UHMWPE using a hip joint simulator with a bovine calf serum lubricant. A thin film of Diamond-Like Carbon was deposited directly onto titanium (Ti6Al4V) head using chemical vapor deposition. The wear of polyethylene coupled with Diamond-Like Carbon coated femoral heads was comparable to that obtained with the polyethylene coupled with commercial alumina femoral heads.