[Ceramic Materials and their Use in Surgery.]

The authors discuss the use of ceramic materials in clinical practice, in particular in bone surgery. Biocompatibility usually conceived in the direction synthetic material-living tissue is analyzed in the reverse direction and the concequences of this combination on the reliability and life span of the implanted ceramics are given. The authors outline their ideas on the development of implant materials of a new generation based on comparison with the structure and mechanical properties of compact bone. Key words: high-performance ceramics, compatibility, reliability and lifetime of ceramics.