抄録
Metal-on-polyethylene hip prostheses are widely used for total hip arthroplasty in the world. However, for many of these metal-on-polyethylene hip prostheses, the polyethylene wear and subsequent osteolysis have been reported to cause loosening between the prostheses and bony interfaces. Therefore, metal-on-metal hip prostheses, which have recently received much attention, can offer such advantages as follows: improving antiwear properties utilizing fluid film lubrication, which is achievable with processing for higher accuracy shape and surface finish and selecting more suitable clearance, and inhibiting dislocation by use of large diameter heads. In this study, tribological behavior of metal-on-metal hip prostheses was evaluated using the electric resistance method with hip joint simulator during walking condition. Because the cup and head are in direct contact during initial loading, the results show that fluid film lubrication should be used after initial wear. In addition, measuring the degree of separation was also succeeded by using the bovine serum lubrication.
