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Monday, August 2, 2004 - 2:50 PM
SES 2.4

Invited: BioTribology: Modeling of the Total Knee Replacement

W. G. Sawyer, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

Wear of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene bearings in total knee replacements remains a major limitation to the longevity of these clinically successful devices. Few design tools are currently available to predict mild wear in implants based on varying kinematics, loads, and material properties. This talk reports the implementation of a computer modeling approach that uses fluoroscopically measured motions as inputs and predicts patient-specific implant damage using computationally efficient dynamic contact and tribological analyses. Predicted damage areas, volumes, and maximum depths were evaluated against a tibial insert retrieved from the same patient who provided the in vivo motions. Overall, the predicted damage was in close agreement with damage observed on the retrieval. Continuing refinement of this approach will provide a robust tool for accurately predicting clinically relevant wear in total knee replacements.

Summary: Wear of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene bearings in total knee replacements remains a major limitation to the longevity of these clinically successful devices. This talk reports on a computer modeling approach that was used to predict wear in to