Ceramic Component Fracture: Trends and Recommendations with Modern Components based on improved Reporting Methods

Fractures of ceramic components have been reported in the literature with highly variable rates, many of which include obsolete designs and previous generations of ceramic materials. With improved worldwide reporting since the year 2000, the database of the largest manufacturer of medical grade ceramics was analyzed with respect to the demographics of modern ceramic component fractures. Although the overall fracture rate based on an excess of 1 million components being produced with the latest technology was a safe and low 0.015% and compared favorably with other complications such as infection, stem breakage, dislocation, etc, the analysis revealed many interesting findings. Three of the most significant were: 28 mm ball heads fracture at a substantially higher rate than the 32mm ball heads; 90% of fractures occur within the 36 months of implantation; due to continued quality improvements the rate continues to decrease (actual > expected rates).