Periarticular Reaction to Wear Debris of Different Ceramic Materials

Abstract

For the last 30 years Alumina and Zirconia ceramics constituted the ceramic materials used for the manufacturing of Total Joint Arthroplasty, thanks to the high biological and mechanical properties of these materials (Piconi and al, 2003; Piconi and Maccauro 1999). The new ceramic biocomposite ZPTA (Alumina Matrix Composites by Transformation Toughened and in situ Plateled Reinforcement) that is currently known as Biolox® delta, produced by CeramTec (namely ZPTA in the paper), improving the mechanical properties when compared to Alumina (Burger W. and Richter H.G. 2000), allowed to manufacture components which were not previously possible, and especially the small- diameter ball heads (<28 mm), thin-walled cup insert, knee and finger joints. Few paper reported the in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility tests on this new material (Willmann, et al. 2000), and in particular as ceramic joints are intended for use in younger patient (Black 1997, Schmalzried 2001), hence the ones with longer life expectations, the study of the chronic effects of small particles, in term of local and systemic toxicity, including carcinogenesys becomes more and more relevant (Archimbeck et al. 2000).