Hydrogen peroxide as an irrigation solution in arthroplasty - a potential contributing factor to the development of...

The reason for revision of primary total hip arthroplasty is quoted as aseptic loosening in 60.6% of cases between 1979 and 2003 in the Swedish National Hip Arthroplasty Registry. Much research effort has been directed toward enhancing the bone-cement interface of total joint arthroplasties, in an attempt to reduce this complication. Haemostatic agents have been popularized as effective means of retarding the development of potentially harmful debris interposition adjacent to, and blood lamination patterns within, the methylmethacrylate. Such agents include hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), local freezing saline, saline at room temperature and adrenaline solution. One main concern with the use of hydrogen peroxide is whether it affects the material properties of bone cement such that in the long term it contributes to aseptic loosening. This would have enormous clinical consequences. Preliminary studies indicate that porosity increases and that the tensile strength and yield stresses are reduced by up to a factor of 10 by contaminating samples with increasing concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. We postulate that the current use of hydrogen peroxide as an irrigation solution in arthroplasty contributes to the development of aseptic loosening.