TESTING THE COBALT ION EMISSION ON THE STAND FOR DIFFERENT ANGLES OF POSITIONING THE COMPONENTS OF THE METAL–METAL HIP JOINT ENDOPROSTHESIS

Abstract

The paper deals with the subject related to the assessment of the influence of the axis angle of the metal components of the hip joint on the emission of cobalt ions. The tribological tests were carried out with the use of a simulator for the examination of hip joint endoprostheses, the structure of which enables the fixation of endoprosthesis components in accordance with the anatomical structure of the human hip joint. During the tests, the simulator performs flexion and extension movements as well as loads occurring in the human hip joint while walking. Loss-wear tests were carried out for nine variants of the “head–cup” system settings. These settings were determined on the basis of CT images obtained from patients after arthroplasty. After the tribological tests were completed, samples of the lubricating fluid with the wear products suspended in it were collected in order to determine the concentration of cobalt ions, which was carried out using the atomic absorption spectrometry method. As a result, the influence of the head antetorsion angle (α) and the acetabular anteversion angle (β) on the concentration of cobalt ions was analysed.