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VIDEO: Polyethylene wear is not a function of time

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LAS VEGAS — At the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting, Charles R. Bragdon, PhD, associate director of clinical studies and director of Partners’ Orthopedic Registries at Harris Orthopaedic Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital, spoke about results of a 7-year evaluation of a new formulation of vitamin E-diffused highly crosslinked polyethylene.

He said that results of the prospective, blinded, randomized controlled trial of 67 patients indicate that in contrast to conventional polyethylene, which is minimally crosslinked and wears at 0.1 mm per year, this formulation of polyethylene and others before it essentially have undetectable wear over time.

“Wear is no longer a function time,” he said. “It is not a function of head size. It is not a function of body weight. We have been able to remove the wear from the equation of failure of total hip replacement.”