Biomaterial-related infection of joint replacements is the second most common cause of implant failure, with serious consequences. Chronically infected replacements cannot be treated without removal of the implant, as the biofilm mode of growth protects the bacteria against antibiotics. This review discusses biofilm formation on joint replacements and the important clinical phenomenon of small-...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There is very little literature on the long-term outcome of wrist replacements. The Norwegian Arthroplasty Register has registered wrist replacements since 1994. We report on the total wrist replacements and their revision rates over a 16-year period. MATERIAL AND METHODS 189 patients with 189 primary wrist replacements (90 Biax prostheses (80 of which were cementless),...

In 78 consecutive patients, we performed fine-needle aspiration of the hip before revision surgery. At the revision operation biopsies were taken from the capsule and joint tissues. The aspirate and the homogenised soft-tissue specimens were cultured using a radiomefric technique. Fifteen hips proved to be infected and 63 sterile on culture of the tissues taken during revision surgery; 94% of t...

A strategy is presented to obtain production sequences resulting in minimal tooling replacements. An objective function is employed to distribute the tool wear as evenly as possible throughout the sequence. This objective function is an extension of Miltenburg’s earlier work (1989) concerned with obtaining production sequences while evenly distributing the satisfaction of demand. Smaller proble...

Forty patients who came to necropsy over a period of five years due to myocardial damage sustained during cardiac valve replacements were studied. The clinical presentation of myocardial damage was assessed in relation to the preoperative cardiac status. The cause and nature of myocardial damage were assessed at necropsy. Evidence of clinical, electrocardiographic and aortographic coronary athe...