Trunnion Corrosion in Total Hip Arthroplasty-Basic Concepts

Kenneth L Urish; Nicholas John Giori; Jack E Lemons; William M Mihalko; Nadim Hallab

doi:10.1016/j.ocl.2019.02.001

Trunnion Corrosion in Total Hip Arthroplasty-Basic Concepts

Orthop Clin North Am. 2019 Jul;50(3):281-288. doi: 10.1016/j.ocl.2019.02.001. Epub 2019 Apr 16.

Authors

Kenneth L Urish¹, Nicholas John Giori², Jack E Lemons³, William M Mihalko⁴, Nadim Hallab⁵

Affiliations

¹ Arthritis and Arthroplasty Design Group, The Bone and Joint Center, Magee Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 300 Halket Street, Suite 1601, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Bioengineering, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Electronic address: urishk2@upmc.edu.
² VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA; Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
³ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1313 13th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35205-5327, USA.
⁴ Campbell Clinic, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery & Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 1211 Union Avenue, Suite 510, Memphis, TN 38104, USA.
⁵ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Rush University, 1653 West Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.

Abstract

There has been increased interest in the role of corrosion in early implant failures and adverse local tissue reaction in total hip arthroplasty. We review the relationship between the different types of corrosion in orthopaedic surgery including uniform, pitting, crevice, and fretting or mechanically assisted crevice corrosion (MACC). Passive layer dynamics serves a critical role in each of these processes. The femoral head-neck trunnion creates an optimal environment for corrosion to occur because of the limited fluid diffusion, acidic environment, and increased bending moment.

Keywords: Adverse local tissue reaction; Corrosion; Head neck taper corrosion; Passive layer; Total hip arthroplasty; Trunnion.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip / adverse effects*
Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip / instrumentation*
Corrosion
Humans
Metals
Oxides
Postoperative Complications
Prosthesis Design*
Prosthesis Failure*
Thermodynamics

Substances

Metals
Oxides

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding