ABSTRACT
Arthroplasty failure is multifactorial and most often results from an interplay of biological and mechanical factors [1-8]. In assessing new implant design, new techniques of reconstruction, or different bone grafting materials, it is important to have available instruments to compare new items to standard ones. A hip simulator has the advantage of reproducing in vitro the mechanical behavior of a reconstructed proximal femur. Compared with in vivo investigation, this method is more accurate and a]]ows variables such as load, frequency of loading, and load case to be tested in reproducible conditions [1,9]. With two hip simulator stations, it was possible to compare two methods provided that the testing devices gave comparable results. An in vitro experiment was perfollTled to compare the initial stability of implants in a reconstructed LIpper femur [1-8]. The investigations were designed to analyze initial stability of a hip component under cyclic loading, measure the micromotion of a cemented prosthesis at 106 cycles, compare motion on both sides, and compare the prosthetic behavior in both femurs impacted with two different bone grafting materials. Impaction bone grafting has been advocated as a method to restore bone stock deficiency during a revision hip arthroplasty [10, 11]. Two different kinds of bone morsels were tested: freeze-dlied
Godts
and gamma-irradiated bone morsels (FDFH) and fresh-frozen morsels (FFFH) from femoral heads in both a short-and long-teml comparative mechanical study.
