Objectives. Wear debris released from bearing surfaces has been shown to
provoke negative immune responses in the recipient. Excessive wear
has been linked to early failure of prostheses. Analysis using coordinate
measuring machines (CMMs) can provide estimates of total volumetric
material loss of explanted prostheses and can help to understand
device failure. The accuracy of volumetric testing has been debated,
with some investigators stating that only protocols involving hundreds
of thousands of measurement points are sufficient. We looked to
examine this assumption and to apply the findings to the clinical
arena. . Methods. We examined the effects on the calculated material loss from
a ceramic femoral head when different CMM scanning parameters were
used. Calculated wear volumes were compared with gold standard gravimetric
tests in a blinded study. . Results. Various scanning parameters including point pitch, maximum point
to point distance, the number of scanning contours or the total
number of points had no clinically relevant effect on volumetric
wear calculations. Gravimetric testing showed that material loss
can be calculated to provide clinically relevant degrees of accuracy. . Conclusions. Prosthetic surfaces can be analysed accurately and rapidly with
currently available technologies. Given these results, we believe
that routine analysis of explanted hip components would be a feasible
and logical extension to
