The John Charnley Award: an accurate and extremely sensitive method to separate, display, and characterize wear debris: part 2: metal and ceramic particles.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Metal-on-metal and ceramic-on-ceramic bearings were introduced as alternatives to conventional polyethylene in hip arthroplasties to reduce wear. Characterization of wear particles has been particularly challenging due to the low amount and small size of wear particles. Current methods of analysis of such particles have shortcomings, including particle loss, clumping, and inaccurate morphologic and chemical characterization.

Questions/purposes

We describe a method to recover and characterize metal and ceramic particles that (1) improves particle purification, separation, and display; (2) allows for precise particle shape characterization; (3) allows accurate chemical identification; and (4) minimizes particle loss.

Methods

After enzymatic digestion, a singl

SUBMITTER: Billi F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3254749 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature