Surface micro-texturing of the prosthetic femoral head to reduce friction & wear, chimera or reality?

ABSTRACT Over the past 20 years, the results of the assiduous concerns regarding the reduction of friction and wear in the joint between the femoral head and the acetabular cup of the classical total hip prosthesis, metal on polyethylene (MoP) have been published, by adopting a technical solution that gives rise to a lot of interest, namely micro-texturing of the femoral head surface. Microtexturing can provide in good conditions both the elastohydrodynamic (EHD) lubrication of the joint and the decrease in wear due to the obstruction of the wear particles circulation between the femoral head and the acetabular cup, as a result of their locking within the micro-texture applied on the femoral head surface. In this way, it prevents both the scratching of the acetabular cup surface made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), and of the femoral head. This paper discusses about the validity of the possibility of increasing the artificial hip joint durability, as a result of the wear resistance increase of the femoral head by micro-texturing its surface. The paper focuses on the possibility of micro-texturing the Co-Cr femoral head surface by means of a programmed multi-indentation technique. Keywords: total hip prosthesis, micro-texturing, multi-indentation, Co-Cr alloy, friction