Development and wear testing of bi-material bearing surfaces for hip arthroplasty

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hip replacement surgery is a tremendously effective and successful treatment for patients suffering from degenerative joint disease. However, revision surgery accounts for about 13% of hip implant surgeries in the U.S.,costing 3 billion annually and presenting significantly increased morbidity and risk of complication for patients. Wear and/or failure of total hip arthroplasty (THA) bearing surfaces is one of the leading causes of device failure, either directly because of poor bearing articulation or through the detrimental effects of wear debris. The proposed work will develop and test a new bearing to be employed in a THA device. This novel approach will reduce bearing surface damage and wear when compared to state of the art approaches in bearing design. If this project is successful, the fundamental design of the bearing surface in THA could change for hundreds of thousands of patients every year. It is expected that this product design will reduce the United States