Improved wear performance with crosslinked UHMWPE and zirconia implants in knee simulation

Background: Suggestions for improved wear performance of total knee replacements have included replacement of standard CoCr femoral components with ceramic and replacement of 3.5-Mrad ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) inserts with 5- or 7-Mrad UHMWPE inserts. The ceramic materials used clinically have included alumina, zirconia ceramic and oxidized zirconium. Patients and method: We compared both CoCr and zirconia versions of the Bi-Surface knee replacement in a 6-station knee simulator using alpha calf serum for lubrication (20 mg protein per mL) to evaluate the relative bearing performance. Results: We studied the 4-way knee simulation of implant materials: zirconia ceramic, CoCr, 3.5-Mrad UHMWPE, and 7-Mrad UHMWPE. With CoCr femoral components, the 7-Mrad UHMWPE resulted in a 5- to 8-fold reduction in wear compared to the 3.5-Mrad insert. With the 3.5-Mrad insert, the zirconia bearing provided approximately 4-fold wear reduction compared to CoCr. These wear rates with standard UHMWPE were similar to published wear studies on entire knees. With the exception of the CoCr/7-Mrad and ZrO 2 /3.5-Mrad combinations, the wear differences were statistically significant. Interpretation: The ZrO 2 /7-Mrad UHMWPE combination gave the best performance, with no measurable wear over the 5.5 million cycle test duration. Copyright