Self-mating ceramic applications in the hip joint
Résumé
Ceramic hip implants are dedicated for replacing the joint: femoral head-acetabulum (pelvic bone). From four main hip joint couples, MoM, MoP, CoP and CoC (M: metal; P:polymer, C: ceramic), CoC has increasing potential as a surface replacement for the next years. Improvement of this implant involves biotribological tests for increased durability, i.e. the use of a hip simulator. Moreover, specifically developed simulation (in vitro) devices are needed to take all in vivo conditions (and weaknesses of CoC couples) into account.