Abstract
Background
Hip resurfacing has advantages for the young active patient with arthritis; maintaining a large range of motion, preserving bone stock, and reduced dislocation risk. However high serum metal ion levels with metal-on-metal resurfacing, and their clinical implications, has led to a decline in the use of hip resurfacing. Ceramic bearing surfaces display the lowest frictional torque and excellent wear rates. Recent developments have enabled large, strong ceramic materials to be used as resurfacing components. Any wear debris that is generated from these articulations is inert. However an all-ceramic hip resurfacing could be at risk of fracture at the head-stem junction. A new ceramic hip resurfacing system with a titanium-ceramic modular taper junction has been developed. The introduction of a taper introduces the potential for fretting corrosion; we sought to determine the extent of this in an in-vitro model, and compared this prosthesis to the conventional 12/14 titanium-cobalt chrome (Ti6Al4V-CoCr) taper junction.
Methods
To simulate the gait cycle, sinusoidal cyclical loads between 300N-2300N, at a frequency of 3Hz, were applied to different head-neck offsets generating different bending moments and torques. The effect of increasing the bending moment and frictional torque were tested separately. Furthermore, the resurfacing head was mounted in a fixture held with just the stem, thus representing complete bone resorption under the head. An electrochemical assessment using potentiostatic tests at an applied potential of 200mV, was used to measure the fretting current (μA) and current amplitude (μA). In a short-term 1000 cycle test, six neck lengths (short to xxx-long) of the Ti6Al4V-CoCr taper were compared to the standard neutral (concentric), and 3mm A/P offset stem options for the resurfacing design. To represent frictional torque, four increments of increasing torque (2-4-6-8Nm) were applied to both tapers. In a long term test with the resurfacing stem, the worst-case scenario of the eccentric offset option and 8Nm of torque were applied, and potentiostatic measurements were taken every million cycles, up to 10 million cycles.
Results
For bending moment through the centre of the head, the standard neutral resurfacing taper displayed equivalent fretting current (1.35μA) compared to its conventional taper equivalent, the short 12/14 Ti6Al4V-CoCr taper (Fig. 1a). That was despite the bending moment through the resurfacing taper being higher due to the offset nature of its taper in relation to the centre of the head. For applied torque, the resurfacing taper displayed reduced average fretting current and average maximum fretting current when compared to the conventional taper (Fig. 1b), though this did not reach statistical significance (Kruskal-Wallis test). Under long term testing for worst-case bending and torque, the resurfacing taper displayed low fretting currents (<2μA and <5μA respectively) with no significant variance of the median values across 10 million cycles (Figs. 2 and 3).
Conclusion
When compared to the gold-standard taper junction, the LIMA ceramic hip resurfacing displays equivalent fretting corrosion for bending moment and improved fretting corrosion for frictional torque. Across long term testing, stable and low fretting currents at this taper junction highlight its potential in clinical use.
