[Possibilities of endoprosthetic joint replacement]

Nowadays arthroplastic operations determine the everyday work in the orthopaedic clinic. The good primary results show a distinct change of indications in favour of the artificial joint replacement. After a longer duration of implantation is to be reckoned with a failure quote of 10% and more. Here the problems of the durable anchoring of the prosthesis, the late infection and the exhaustion of the material are in the foreground. In the development of endoprosthesis in the GDR as carriers of the power the nickel-free cobalt-basis alloy Prothecast and as sliding partner the highly pure Hermsdorf aluminum oxide ceramic material were used as implant materials. These biomaterials best stood the test.