New fast method for determination of number of UHMWPE wear particles

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) wear particles are the major cause of total joint replacement (TJR) failures because the wear particles, released from TJR’s, cause bone loosening. To simplify the study of the relationship between numbers of particles at various locations around TJR’s and extent of bone loosening at these locations, the authors of this work tried to develop a new method for easy and fast determination of number of wear particles. The method, called LSC (Light Scattering with Calibration spheres), is based on light scattering of a suspension of wear particles and calibration spheres, and yields relative numbers of particles. A modified LSC method, called LSCm, requires one additional experiment, a gravimetric analysis of a mixture of all studied samples, to determine absolute numbers of wear particles. LSC and LSCm methods are easy and fast, which make them suitable for processing and comparing high number of samples.