RESPONSE OF BONE ON STATIONARY LOAD FROM THE INPLANT

BackgroundResidual stress remains in bone tissues after press-fit-fixation of a joint prosthesis, recently employed for joint arthroplasty. The response of bone tissues to the residual stress is, however, unknown because it is not physiological. This unnatural stimulus may have adverse effects on bone tissues, including causing thigh pain or bone resorption. In the present study, we designed an experimental method to apply a stationary load from inside an animal femur using a loop spring of titanium alloy with super elasticity. The femoral response was assessed based on the migration of the wire into bone twelve weeks after implantation. As the results, wire migration was noted in 10 of 11 cases.MethodsWe developed a method using a loop spring made of super elastic titanium alloy, which can maintain sufficient stress in a rat femur for a prolonged period. This titanium alloy, which contains 43.94% titanium and 56.06% nickel, was supplied as a wire (WDL1, Actment Co., Ltd., Kasukabe, Japan). In the present...