Circumspectives: The Replacements

Molecular replacements

Hard Tissue Replacements

The use of biomaterials to restore the function of traumatized or degenerated connective tissues and thus improve the quality of life of a patient has become widespread. In the past, implants were designed with insufficient cognizance of biomechanics. Accordingly, the clinical results were not very encouraging. An upsurge of research activities into the mechanics of joints and biomaterials has ...

Toxicology of chlorofluorocarbon replacements.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are stable in the atmosphere and may reach the stratosphere. They are cleaved by UV-radiation in the stratosphere to yield chlorine radicals, which are thought to interfere with the catalytic cycle of ozone formation and destruction and deplete stratospheric ozone concentrations. Due to potential adverse health effects of ozone depletion, chlorofluorocarbon replacemen...

Bilateral Endoprosthetic Replacements of the Proximal Femur

Patient. We report the case of a 20-year-old caucasian male with an Ewing's sarcoma in the left upper femur. After induction chemotherapy, he underwent resection of the left upper femur and insertion of a cemented proximal femoral replacement. Four years later, he presented with a solitary bone metastasis in the right upper femur. He underwent further chemotherapy followed by resection and endo...

The management of infected total knee replacements.

A review of patients with an infected resurfacing prosthesis is presented. Eight patients with a loose infected prosthesis were treated by a one-stage exchange arthroplasty; six others with a well-fixed infected prosthesis were treated by drainage and antibiotics. All eight treated by exchange arthroplasty remained free of infection as did five of those treated by drainage. In four of these las...