Artificial joints made with a recently found polymer may improve the results of hip replacement surgery.
Hip replacement surgery is common among patients with arthritis, but many of the new joints are short-lived due to the build-up of wear particle debris.
A new polyurethane polymer may reduce the level of damaging materials that accumulate as a result of wear on the joint, according to researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.
Early results indicate that the material deserves additional research to prove that it is a superior material for plastic implants, according to Dr. Richard Smith.
Over the past four decades, the orthopaedic industry has been working to develop better materials for hip replacements, says Robert Rylee of Active Implants Corporation, which funded the University of Tennessee research.
Results of the research were presented at a meeting of the international Orthopaedic Research Society in Hawaii.
Rylee is pleased that the research has yielded not only a good material but a potential substitute.
Experts expect that hip replacement products made of the new polymer will be available for use in Europe by the end of 2007.