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History and Systematic Review of Wear and Osteolysis Outcomes for First-generation Highly Crosslinked Polyethylene

  • Symposium: UHMWPE for Arthroplasty: From Powder to Debris
  • Published:
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®

Abstract

Background

Highly crosslinked polyethylene (HXLPE) was introduced to reduce wear and osteolysis in total joint arthroplasty. While many studies report wear and osteolysis associated with HXLPE, analytical techniques, clinical study design and followup, HXLPE formulation and implant design characteristics, and patient populations differ substantially among investigations, complicating a unified perspective.

Questions/purposes

Literature on first-generation HXLPE was summarized. We systematically reviewed the radiographic wear data and incidence of osteolysis for HXLPE in hip and knee arthroplasty.

Methods

PubMed identified 391 studies; 28 met inclusion criteria for a weighted-averages analysis of two-dimensional femoral head penetration rates. To determine the incidence of osteolysis, we estimated a pooled odds ratio using a random-effects model.

Results

Weighted-averages analyses of femoral head penetration rates in HXLPE liners and conventional UHMWPE liners resulted, respectively, in a mean two-dimensional linear penetration rate of 0.042 mm/year based on 28 studies (n = 1503 hips) and 0.137 mm/year based on 18 studies (n = 695 hips). The pooled odds ratio for the risk of osteolysis in HXLPE versus conventional liners was 0.13 (95% confidence interval, 0.06–0.27) among studies with minimum 5-year followup. We identified two clinical studies of HXLPE in TKA, preventing systematic analysis of outcomes.

Conclusions

HXLPE liner studies consistently report lower femoral head penetration and an 87% lower risk of osteolysis. Reduction in femoral head penetration or osteolysis risk is not established for large-diameter (> 32 mm) metallic femoral heads or ceramic femoral heads of any size. Few studies document the clinical performance of HXLPE in knees.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dominik Alexander, PhD, and our colleagues from the Health group, Exponent, Inc, for assisting with the statistical analysis for this systematic review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exponent, Inc, 3401 Market Street, Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Steven M. Kurtz PhD & Jasmine D. Patel PhD

  2. Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Steven M. Kurtz PhD, Heather A. Gawel MS & Jasmine D. Patel PhD

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  1. Steven M. Kurtz PhD
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  2. Heather A. Gawel MS
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Correspondence to Steven M. Kurtz PhD.

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The institution of one or more of the authors (SMK) has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIAMS) (R01 AR47904); Stryker Orthopaedics, Inc (Mahwah, NJ); Zimmer, Inc (Warsaw, IN); and StelKast (McMurray, PA).

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Kurtz, S.M., Gawel, H.A. & Patel, J.D. History and Systematic Review of Wear and Osteolysis Outcomes for First-generation Highly Crosslinked Polyethylene. Clin Orthop Relat Res 469, 2262–2277 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-011-1872-4

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