Detection of aluminum oxide and polyethylene wear particles from joint endoprostheses using cathodoluminescence and x-ray analysis in SEM.

A highly sensitive method to localize aluminum oxide or polyethylene wear particles in biological tissues is presented. Using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) with a special cathodoluminescence detector system, small amounts of these foreign materials can be visualized in simple frozen sections by their bright luminescence, even at low magnifications (200X). At higher magnifications, a differentiation of free as well as phagocytized aluminum oxide and polyethylene particles can be made due to their different behavior in light emission. In addition, aluminum oxide such as other metals can be identified by x-ray microprobe analysis. This combination of SEM with microprobe analysis and with the highly sensitive cathodoluminescence mode enables to detect and identify wear products from all the materials, commonly used in manufacturing artificial joint replacements.