Particle disease. Is tribology an issue for revision surgery?

To improve the longevity of endoprostheses, the main goal is to reduce wear . Polyethylene together with metal or ceramic is currently the most frequen tly used combination their clinical success is well documented in the liter ature. Ma ny attempts to improve polyethylene in the past have failed. Materials successful in the laboratory have failed in clinical use. The mos t recent competitors of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) a re the highly cross-linked polyethylenes (HCLPE) and the hard-on-hard coupl ings such as metal-on-metal or ceramic-on-ceramic. Advantages and downsides regarding particle generation and higher standards of precision in positio ning the components are discussed.