[Material related aspects of surface structured endoprostheses]

In this article technical problems of surface-structured endoprostheses for cementless implantation are discussed. On the basis of four prostheses (two hip and two knee endoprostheses) various different porous coating technologies are compared. One sintered sphere layer, a cast sphere layer, a cast layer with "spongy-bone" structure and a plasma sprayed coating were compared. The quality of the bonding between the prosthesis and the porous surface layer was examined metallographically using polished specimens, with additional investigation of fraction surfaces of special tension test specimens. Additional information is given on the notch effect of the different coatings, in terms of a reduction in fatigue strength. The notch sensitivity differs for each material, and the reduction in fatigue strength is discussed for different implant alloys and different technologies for surface structuring. The investigation shows that the present quality of surface-structured endoprostheses is not satisfactory. We would like to thank the Dr. Johannes Heidenhain Foundation for financial support of this research.