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Adaptiive finite element modeling of long‐term polyethylene wear in total hip arthroplasty
Author(s) -
Maxian Tina A.,
Brown Thomas D.,
Pedersen Douglas R.,
Callaghan John J.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of orthopaedic research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.041
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1554-527X
pISSN - 0736-0266
DOI - 10.1002/jor.1100140424
Subject(s) - polyethylene , head (geology) , materials science , total hip arthroplasty , femoral head , finite element method , arthroplasty , composite material , biomedical engineering , orthodontics , surgery , medicine , structural engineering , geology , engineering , geomorphology
Adaptive remeshing capability was addded to an existing sliding‐distance‐coupled finite element model of polyethylene wear in total hip arthroplasty. This augmentation allowed earlier postoperative wear simulation to be extended to the clinically more significant long‐term regimen (as long as 20 years). Loads and femoral head excursions were taken from a physically validated gait analysis model of a patient with an instrumented total hip replacement. For otherwise identical 22, 28, and 32 mm components, the least volumetric wear but the most linear wear occurred for the 22 mm head. When the polyethylene thickness in a 22 mm component was reduced to the same as that in a 32 mm component, the volumetric wear rate for the 22 mm component was still much less than that for the larger component, indicating that sliding distance (head size). rather than polyethylene liner thickness, was primarily responsible for the difference in rates, A “28 mm” series, for which head sizes were varied across the range of currently accepted industrial tolerances, showed that although initial wear rates were greatest for the least congruent articulations, the long‐term volumetric wear was nearly the same, regardless of initial clearance.