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Technical Note: Is Corrosion a Threat to the Strength of the Taper Connection in Femoral Components of Total Hip Replacements?
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Technical Note: Is Corrosion a Threat to the Strength of the Taper Connection in Femoral Components of Total Hip Replacements?

Genymphas B. Higgs, Daniel W. MacDonald, Julie Lowell, Alexander Padayatil, William M. Mihalko, Ryan L. Siskey, Jeremy L. Gilbert, Clare M. Rimnac and Steven M. Kurtz
Corrosion (Houston, Tex.), v 73(12), pp 1538-1543
01 Dec 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5006/2632
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

Materials Science Materials Science, Multidisciplinary Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering Science & Technology Technology
Taper corrosion has been suggested as a possible contributor to in vivo disassociation of modular connections in total hip arthroplasty (THA) systems, but this relationship has not been explored experimentally. This study assessed whether in vivo taper corrosion decreases the strength of the head-stem connection, and compared these taper characteristics between clinically revised devices and cadaver retrievals. One hundred nine (109) femoral stems retrieved with an attached cobalt-chrome (CoCr) head were identified in a collection of THA retrievals: 93 from revision surgery and 16 from cadaver donors. After the explants were cleaned, the force used to disassemble each head-stem pair was recorded using a mechanical test frame with custom fixtures in accordance with ISO 7206-10. Taper corrosion was assessed using a four-point semi-quantitative method. Femoral disassembly force was positively associated with stem taper damage (rho = 0.26, p = 0.007) but not significantly related to head taper damage (rho = 0.14, p = 0.153). There was no difference in femoral disassembly force between revision and cadaver retrievals. Revision retrievals exhibited greater damage than cadaver retrievals at both the head (odds ratio [OR] = 0.23, p = 0.002) and stem (OR = 0.06, p = 0.001) tapers. The results of the present study do not support the hypothesis that corrosion weakens the taper junction between the head and stem of modular femoral components. The findings from the taper damage assessment of cadaver controls may suggest a greater prevalence of corrosion in components requiring revision surgery.

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6 Record Views
2 citations in Web of Science
3 citations in Scopus

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Collaboration types
Industry collaboration
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering
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