ADVANCES IN MEDICAL TRIBOLOGY ORTHOPAEDIC IMPLANTS AND IMPLANT MATERIAL

A collection of 23 articles first published as a special issue of the Journal of Engineering in Medicine the date of which is not noted; they may originally have been presented at a conference of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, but the information is scanty. They examine current issues related to total joint replacement. Among them are relevant wear mechanisms, wear debris and its interactions with biological tissue, new combinations of materials, joint simulators to screen new designs and predict the performance of an implant, surgical techniques, clinical follow-up, and the development of national and international standards. A sampling of the topics unearths the wear and morphology of ultra-high molecular-weight polyethylene wear particles from total hip replacements, wear in retrieved Charnley acetabular sockets, the theory and practice of designing against wear in meniscal knee replacements, and the pathogenesis of osteolysis in two different cementless hip replacements. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.