Effects of femoral component material properties on cementless fixation in total hip arthroplasty. A comparison study between carbon composite, titanium alloy, and stainless steel.

Carbon-fiber-reinforced-carbon composite material is an attractive implant material because its modulus of elasticity can be made similar to that of cortical bone. This study investigated the effect of femoral prosthesis elastic modulus on cementless implant fixation. Distal, as well as proximal, relative micromovements between implant and bone were measured in two testing protocols (axial-load and torsional-load), comparing identically shaped carbon composite (modulus of elasticity = 18.6 GPa), Ti6Al4V (100 GPa), and 630 stainless steel (200 GPa) prostheses. In the axial-load test, proximal mediolateral micromotions were significantly larger in the flexible composite stem than in the two metals. In the torsional-load test, rotational micromotions and "slop" displacements in the flexible stem were significantly larger proximally and significantly smaller distally than in the two metals. While these results suggest that proximal stress transfer may be improved by a flexible stem, they raise the possibility of increased proximal micromotion, and suggest that improved proximal fixation may be necessary to achieve clinical success with flexible composite femoral components.