Not All Zirconia Femoral Heads Degrade In Vivo

TL;DRAbstract

Degradation of yttria-stabilized zirconia femoral heads in vivo has been linked to increased roughening and even fracture of the femoral head. To determine whether magnesia-stabilized zirconia is better suited to resist degradation, we characterized the monoclinic phase concentration, surface topography, and microhardness of retrieved zirconia femoral heads. From previous work, we expected yttria-stabilized zirconia heads to undergo considerable tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transformation in vivo, leading to considerably increased roughness and decreased microhardness, whereas magnesia-stabilized zirconia heads would not experience phase transformation and thus would not roughen or exhibit decreased microhardness. We studied seven yttria-stabilized zirconia and 12 magnesia-stabilized zirconia femoral heads. Yttria-stabilized zirconia heads explanted after 5 years exhibited a rough orange peel-like surface under light microscopy and were rougher than magnesia-stabilized zirconia heads

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