Although total hip arthroplasty (THA) has provided good results for over forty years, the choice of the optimal bearing surface still remains controversial. Tribology is defined as “the branch of science and technology that deals with the study of friction, wear, and lubrication”.1 Tribology is fundamental to the function and long-term survival of orthopaedic implants. With the development of h...

BACKGROUND Anatomical total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) for glenohumeral osteoarthritis (OA) and severe posterior glenoid wear may entail early postoperative complications (recurrence of posterior subluxation, glenoid loosening). To avoid these mechanical problems, reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) has recently been proposed, mainly for its intrinsic stability. Our purpose was to present the ...

BACKGROUND Charnley total hip arthroplasty has been demonstrated to provide good clinical results and a high rate of implant survivorship for twenty years and longer. Most long-term series are not large enough to stratify the many demographic factors that influence implant survivorship. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of demographic factors and diagnoses on the long-term su...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The most common surgical approaches in total hip arthroplasty in Sweden are the posterior and the anterolateral transgluteal approach. Currently, however, there is insufficient evidence to prefer one over the other regarding risk of subsequent surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS We searched the Swedish Hip Arthroplasty Register between the years 1992 and 2009 to compare the p...

BACKGROUND The present study was designed to clarify which underlying indications can be currently considered the main reasons for failure after total knee arthroplasty as a function of time. METHODS We conducted a retrospective study that included all first revisions of total knee replacements during 2005 to 2010 at two high-volume arthroplasty centers. A revision was defined as the replacem...

Review of the radiographs of 882 consecutive metal-to-polyethylene hip replacements after a mean follow-up of 6.8 years showed 72 cases (8%) of aseptic femoral loosening, all of which showed a lucent zone or black line between metal and cement. In 97% of the series this appeared within two years of the arthroplasty. Progress of loosening was unpredictable and only 24% had significant symptoms. ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Few studies have compared the long-term survival of cemented primary total hip arthroplasties (THAs), and several prostheses have been used without adequate knowledge of their endurance. We studied long-term outcome based on data in the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register. PATIENTS AND METHODS The 10 most used prosthesis brands in 62,305 primary Palacos or Simplex cemented ...

Aseptic loosening of a permanent prosthesis remains one the most common reasons for bone implant failure. To improve fixation between and tissue as well enhance blood vessel formation, bioactive agents are incorporated into surface biomaterial. This study reviews compares five elements (copper, magnesium, silicon, strontium, zinc) with respect to their effect on angiogenic behavior endothelial ...

The authors have retrospectively studied a series of 32 reverse shoulder prostheses implanted in 30 patients by the same surgeon between 1992 and 2000. The mean age was 71 years; 26 patients were female, 4 were male. Thirteen patients (14 prostheses) were clinically and radiologically examined at follow-up; 9 patients (10 prostheses) were questioned by telephone and their radiological records w...

Since wear and loosening of the ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene cup are factors which limit the life of an arthroplasty we have attempted to identify factors associated with either low wear (0.02 mm/year or less) or high wear (0.2 mm/year or more). In a series of 1434 Charnley low-friction arthroplasties (1092 patients) 190 (13.2%) showed low wear while 149 (10.4%) showed high wear. We...