Low-Wear Hip Implants - Hard Wearing, Durable Hips!

It is now well known that the major stumbling block to prolonged survival of hip replacements is the wear of the bearing surfaces. In hip implants, the majority of wear happens at the area where the femoral head articulates with the acetabulum. Wear particles are biologically active components and have the potential to cause bone resorption. They may cause pain and, ultimately, loosening of the hip implant. The replacement parts can also wear through, destroying the portion of the prosthesis that supports the bearing surface. Research is still going on to develop low-wear hip implants that may save patients from the trouble of correction surgery.

The quality of a low-wear hip implant depends not only on the type of materials and their design, but also their processing and sterilization. Polyethylene used in hip replacements has a high degree of wear. To overcome this, polyethylene is cross linked. The cross linkage makes it hard wearing and durable. The metal implants possess durable properties, but have the associated disadvantage of free metal ions. In some cases, the high level of metal ions in the urine and blood has raised speculations regarding the safety of low-wear implants made of metal. The implant with the least amount of wear debris is the ceramic-on ceramic hip replacement implant. The contemporary ceramic-on-ceramic coupled implants exhibit a lesser rate of wear damage.

The benefits of low wear implants can be availed by any candidate of hip replacement, but particularly young people are the target group. Low wear implants have longer serviceable life that can outlive the recipient’s life, sparing him from revision surgery.

Also see; medical treatment for hip replacement.

About The Author:

Dr. Bharat Sharma is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.hip-replacement-care.com. He has been working in the medical rehab field for more than a decade. Keeping up to date with techological advancements he has become a self appointed expert.