CR TKA UHMWPE Wear Tested after Artificial Aging of the Vitamin E Treated Gliding Component by Simulating Daily Patient Activities

Abstract EN

The wear behaviour of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is dominated by two wear mechanisms: the abrasive wear and the delamination of the gliding components, where the second is strongly linked to aging processes and stress concentration in the material.

The addition of vitamin E to the bulk material is a potential way to reduce the aging processes.

This study evaluates the wear behaviour and delamination susceptibility of the gliding components of a vitamin E blended, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) cruciate retaining (CR) total knee arthroplasty.

Daily activities such as level walking, ascending and descending stairs, bending of the knee, and sitting and rising from a chair were simulated with a data set received from an instrumented knee prosthesis.

After 5 million test cycles no structural failure of the gliding components was observed.

The wear rate was with 5.62 ± 0.53 mg/million cycles falling within the limit of previous reports for established wear test methods.