Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) has been frequently used in spinal surgery with good clinical results. The material has a low elastic modulus and is radiolucent. However, in oral implantology PEEK has displayed inferior ability to osseointegrate compared to titanium materials. One idea to reinforce PEEK would be to coat it with hydroxyapatite (HA), a ceramic material of good biocompatibility. In ...

Carbon fiber-reinforced polyetheretherketone (CFR/PEEK) is theoretically suitable as a material for use in hip prostheses, offering excellent biocompatibility, mechanical properties, and the absence of metal ions. To evaluate in vivo fixation methods of CFR/PEEK hip prostheses in bone, we examined radiographic and histological results for cementless or cemented CFR/PEEK hip prostheses in an ovi...

Introduction. Increasing interest developed in the use of carbon-fiber-reinforced-poly-ether-ether-ketones (CFR-PEEK) as an alternative bearing material in knee arthroplasty. The effects of CFR-PEEK wear in in vitro and animal studies are controversially discussed, as there are no data available concerning human tissue. The aim of this study was to analyze human tissue containing CFR-PEEK as we...

Poly ether ether ketone (PEEK) offers a set of characteristics superior for human implants; however, its application is limited by the bio-inert surface property. In this work, PEEK surface was modified using single step plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) treatment with a gas mixture of water vapor as a plasma resource and argon as an ionization assistant. Field emission scanning electron...

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has good chemical and biomechanical properties that are excellent for biomedical applications. However, PEEK exhibits hydrophobic and other surface characteristics which cause limited cell adhesion. We have investigated the potential of Ar plasma treatment for the formation of a nanostructured PEEK surface in order to enhance cell adhesion. The specific aim of this s...

Despite extensive use of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) in biomedical applications, information about bacterial adhesion to this biomaterial is limited. This study investigated Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis adhesion to injection moulded and machined PEEK OPTIMA(®) using a custom-built adhesion chamber with medical grade titanium and Thermanox for comparison. Additionally, ba...

BACKGROUND Titanium and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) implants have been used in spinal surgery with low rejection rates. Compared to titanium, PEEK has many advantages, including a density more similar to that of bone, radiolucency, and a lack of artifacts in computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of PEEK cages as an alternati...

Introduction : Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is an aromatic, rigid semi-crystalline thermoplastic with excellent mechanical properties and bone-like stiffness, and good biocompatibility [1-2]. Moreover for biomedical applications, particularly in the area of load-bearing orthopaedic applications [3] PEEK is able to be repeatedly sterilized, and shaped by machining or injection moulding. Devices u...

This study aims to validate, using finite element analysis (FEA), the design concept by comparing the fatigue behavior of hip implant stems coated with composite (carbon/PEEK) and polymeric (PEEK) coating materials corresponding to different human activities: standing up, normal walking and climbing stairs under dynamic loadings to find out which of all these models have a better performance in...

BACKGROUND Surgical treatments for early onset scoliosis (EOS), including growing rod constructs, involve many complications. Some are due to biomechanical factors. A construct that is more flexible than current instrumentation systems may reduce complications. The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine spine range of motion (ROM) after implantation of simulated growing rod construc...