Abstracts Posters SICOT-SOF meeting Gothenburg 2010 _2_

Poster
Topic: Biomaterials
Abstract number: 23686
UNI AND MULTIDIRECTIONAL WEAR RESISTANCE OF DIFFERENT
CROSSLINKING GRADE OF UHMWPE FOR ARTIFICIAL JOINTS.
Ana TORRES 1 , Mariano FERNANDEZ-FAIREN 2 , Vanesa GONZALEZ-MORA 2 , M
HOFFMANN 3 , R. STROOJNISDER 3 , F.J. GIL 3 , Antonio MURCIA 1
1 Hospital de Cabueñes, Gijon (SPAIN), 2 Instituto de Traumatologia y Ortopedia,
Barcelona (SPAIN), 3 Institute for Health and Consumer Protection. Joint Research
Centre, European Commision, Ispra (SPAIN)
The objective of this work was to study the effect of UHMWPE crosslinking in relation
to its wear performance. Four different treatments on the UHMWPE material were
investigated. The test methods proposed were a horizontal and multidirectional pinon-disk
to evaluate the wear of polymers in biotribology. RESULTS: 1.Higher wear for
the irradiated and crosslinked UHMWPEs (XLPEs) than for the unirradiated
UHMWPE material. 2. The difference between crosslinked materials is statistically no
significant and that both crosslinking treatments seem to have a similar effect on the
wear resistance of the UHMWPE. 3. Higher number of scars for irradiated and
XLPEs than for the unirradiated UHMWPE, and they are shallower. 4. The grade of
fibril formation is higher for the unirradiated than for the irradiated material and then
less for the XLPEs. 5. The particle formation of the XLPEs corroborates their lower
deformation capacity in comparison with irradiated and unirradiated UHMWPEs. 6.
Higher wear for the irradiated and unirradiated UHMWPE material compared to the
XLPEs on the multidirectional wear test. DISCUSSION: UHMWPEs with higher
capacity to deform locally present a higher wear resistance and lower weight loss
under unidirectional conditions. Unirradiated UHMWPE wears less than irradiated
.CONCLUSIONS: The results show that the XLPEs are optimal materials for
acetabular components in Total Hip Replacements. Under unidirectional sliding
conditions the XLPEs are subjected to more wear compared to unirradiated
UHMWPE. Therefore, in situations where unidirectional sliding motion is the main
type of motion between the articulating components, XLPEs should not be used.
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