Comparison of wear against articulating cartilage with different materials

• Author / Creator

  Vats, Karan

• Osteoarthritis is one of the most common medical conditions, mainly affecting older adults. The majority of cases are found within the hip or knee joint however, small joints, including the ankle, finger and facet joints are affected as well. The usual treatment for osteoarthritis is surgery including hemi (partial) and total arthroplasties. These operations involve the introduction of foreign materials, predominantly medical grade metals and plastics, into the joint space. Depending upon the operation, these materials are directly or indirectly in contact with surrounding cartilage and soft tissue. The goal of this study is to determine the amount of wear different materials, commonly used in these procedures, cause to the articulating cartilage they are in contact with.The effects of three different materials were tested against porcine femoral cartilage to see which caused the most damage macroscopically and microscopically. Titanium, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWP) and carbon reinforced polyether ether ketone (CR-PEEK) were all compared to each other and to other cartilage samples. These materials were tested using a uniaxial loading machine that provided variable vertical loads and rotary displacement to emulate movements similar to a human joint. Macroscopic observations in the form of wear patterns, as well as pathologic changes analyzed histologically allowed for the accurate quantification of wear that had taken place for each material.Cartilage vs cartilage tests acted as the controls for this study. None to minimal wear was seen both grossly and microscopically for these tests. UHMWP, titanium and CR-PEEK showed increasing amounts of macroscopic wear, respectively. Histologic grading revealed that titanium and UHMWP created similar amounts of cartilage damage while CR-PEEK had statistically significant more wear than both titanium (p=0.008) and UHMWP (p=0.035).This study showed that tests conducted on a physiologically similar machine, CR-PEEK contributed to the greatest amount of wear to the cartilage both macroscopically and microscopically. This material should be carefully reviewed prior to its use in further orthopaedic procedures in the future.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Cartilage wear

• Graduation date

  Fall 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-pf8z-c426

• License

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