Author(s)

Alexander J. Pfister¹, Karl-Heinz Widmer², Niklaus F. Friederich³, Martin Majewski³

¹Department of Anaesthesiology, Hospital of Bülach, Bülach, Switzerland.
²Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Hospital of Schaffhausen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
³Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Metal debris from metal-on-metal (MoM) total hip arthroplasties (THA) has been suspected to cause periprosthetic heterotopic ossifications (HO). We determined the influence of disseminated cobalt, chromium and molybdenum on the development of HO. Native blood samples from patients with 86 high-carbon and 16 low-carbon Co28Cr6Mo articulations were analysed by high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometry (HR ICP-MS). The results revealed that high-carbon metal-on-metal articulations showed lower metal blood levels (Co 1.03 to 1.60 μg/l, Cr 0.77 to 0.88 μg/l, Mo 0.45 to 0.56 μg/l) whereas low-carbon articulations achieved higher metal blood levels (Co 2.59 to 6.85 μg/l, Cr 1.25 to 3.55 μg/l, Mo 0.45 to 0.64 μg/l), but no correlation between metal ion blood level or carbon content and the development of HO could be found in these MoM articulations. Hence, metal debris from MoM articulation does not stimulate heterotopic bone formation despite other well-known local reactions.

Wear, Total Hip Arthroplasty, Cobalt, Chromium, Molybdenum, Heterotopic Ossification

Pfister, A. , Widmer, K. , Friederich, N. and Majewski, M. (2016) Elevated Cobalt, Chromium and Molybdenum Levels in Peripheral Blood Have No Effect on the Development of Heterotopic Ossifications after Metal-on-Metal Total Hip Arthroplasty. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 9, 25-40. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2016.91004.