Fretting corrosion accelerates crevice corrosion of modular hip tapers.

The use of multiple-component systems in orthopedic surgery gives the surgeon increased flexibility in choosing the optimal implant, but introduces the possibility of interfacial corrosion. Such corrosion could limit the longevity of prostheses due either to tissue reactions to corrosion products, or to device failure. The incidence and nature of corrosion of modular total hips was evaluated in a consecutive series of 79 retrieved implants from University Hospitals of Cleveland. Surfaces were examined with stereo- and scanning electron microscopy. Several laboratory studies were undertaken to examine mechanisms that might contribute to the initiation of corrosion. The first set of experiments investigated the effect of head neck extension; the second study looked at the effect of material combinations on fretting corrosion and crevice corrosion. Analysis of retrieved implants demonstrated that fretting corrosion played a major role in the initiation of interface corrosion, and that a correlation existed between corrosion and length of neck extensions. Laboratory studies showed that longer head neck extensions may be more susceptible to fretting corrosion because of an instability at the interface. Short-term mixed-metal corrosion studies demonstrated that the coupling of cobalt and titanium alloys did not render the interface more susceptible to corrosion. It is hypothesized that fretting corrosion contributes to the initiation of modular interface corrosion, and that the problem can be reduced by design changes that increase the stability of the interface.