Ga. Lundeen et al., TECHNIQUE FOR IDENTIFICATION OF SUBMICRON METAL PARTICULATE FROM IMPLANTS IN HISTOLOGICAL SPECIMENS, Journal of biomedical materials research, 43(2), 1998, pp. 168-174
Metal implants are being used with increasing frequency for the treatm
ent of many diseases in the field of orthopedics, cardiology, cardiova
scular surgery, and otoplaryngology. Unfortunately, metals can be a so
urce of submicron particles, which may have adverse effects on tissues
. This article describes a technique that uses backscattered electron
imaging and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis, which have the capa
city to perform both quantitative and qualitative analysis, The partic
les can be characterized by size, shape, amount, and composition. Alth
ough this technique can be used near the implant interface, it is part
icularly helpful in tissues a great distance from the implant site wit
h a low concentration of metal debris. Pm addition, the sensitivity an
d specificity of this technique can be adjusted to the investigator's
needs. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.