Advances of Wear Reduction of Artificial Joints: Regenerative Cartilage Artificial Joints

Abstract

The lifespan is a major concern for artificial joints when more younger patients are taking the total joint replacement operations. Wear is recognized as the main reason for the premature failure of implanted joints. So lowering the wear is one of the most effective way to extend the lifespan, which has attracted much efforts in both academia and industry. Development of new bio-materials is a main approach but contributes less in recent year. The research on surface roughness hasn’t given a definite solution in directing the industrial practice. The surface texturing functions well in improving the friction and wear of artificial joints, but the working mechanism is still ambiguous. Cushion or buffering layer is a promising solution to introduce elastic contact between the bearing surfaces, but cannot totally avoid debonding or shear stresses currently. Latest progress on regeneration of articular cartilage makes it possible to form hyaline cartilage in vitro onto bio-implant surfaces to reproduce the original properties of healthy joints which is definitely the most promising way.