Authors: Edward Ebramzadeh
Publish Date: 2016/10/05
Volume: 474, Issue: 12, Pages: 2724-2725
Abstract
The institution of the author EE has received during the study period funding from NuVasive San Diego CA USA DePuy Orthopaedics Warsaw IN USA Arthrex Naples FL USA Extremity Medical Parsippany NJ USA TriMed Newtown PA USA and the NIH Bethesda MD USAThe study by Siskey and colleagues is novel in that it addresses several aspects of wear and damage to the surfaces of a cervical disc replacement Specifically the authors have evaluated wear of PEEKonceramic bearings not only under idealized conditions but also under simulated impingement and “abrasive” conditions simulating the effects of thirdbody damage on wear The study is masterfully conducted and pushes the envelope on wear evaluation of total disc replacements beyond current ASTM and ISO requirements As the authors indicate disc replacements currently on the market were approved using only idealized conditionsThe authors conclude that PEEKonceramic bearings may be a reasonable alternative to polyethyleneonCoCr or metalonmetal bearing for cervical disc replacements However in drawing this conclusion one must take the specifics of the design into account It is difficult from this wear simulation alone to make general conclusions regarding the tribological behavior of PEEKonceramic bearings since the ceramic core may not have had predictable types of motion against each of the superior and inferior PEEK components
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