Biomechanical Evaluation of the Fatigue Performance, the Taper Corrosion and the Metal Ion Release of a Dual Taper Hip Prosthesis under Physiological Environmental Conditions

The failures reported for several pre-clinically validated modular hip implant designs are an indicator that an expansion of the current testing procedures according to ISO and ASTM is required to reliably assess the performance of taper junctions prior to clinical use. The developed experimental two-stage testing method, using bovine serum and the adapted iron-chloride solution, is a promising approach to simulate the complex physiological environment in vitro.