Biological Monitoring of Metal Ions Released from Hip Prostheses

Dynamic Health Monitoring of Metal on Metal Hip Prostheses Using Acoustic Emission

Hip joint replacement enters a new era of fitments for younger people and the survival time of the joints are forecasted to increase. The main advances are the reintroduction of the improved metal on metal hip replacement and resurfacing techniques to avoid stress shielding. This combination is now competing for the gold standard achieved by the Charnley’s low-friction arthroplasty device (stai...

Metal Ions in Biological Systems

Metal Ions in Biological Systems

Metal ions play essential roles in about one third of enzymes [1]. These ions can modify electron flow in a substrate or enzyme, thus effectively controlling an enzyme-catalyzed reaction. They can serve to bind and orient substrate with respect to functional groups in the active site, and they can provide a site for redox activity if the metal has several valence states. Without the appropriate...

Continuous monitoring of the performance of hip prostheses.

New brands of joint prosthesis are released for general implantation with limited evidence of their long-term performance in patients. The CUSUM continuous monitoring method is a statistical testing procedure which could be used to provide prospective evaluation of brands as soon as implantation in patients begins and give early warning of poor performance. We describe the CUSUM and illustrate ...

Cobalt and chromium measurement in patients with metal hip prostheses.

Approximately 1 million metal-on-metal (MoM) hip prostheses have been implanted worldwide to alleviate pain, restore hip function, and improve overall quality of life. These implants contain femoral and acetabular bearing surfaces that are typically composed predominantly of cobalt (Co) and chromium (Cr). Although the majority of MoM hip replacements have been successful, multiple recent report...