The potential application of a Cobalt Chrome Molybdenum femoral stem with functionally graded orthotropic structures manufactured using Laser Melting technologies

The cementless fixation of porous coated femoral stems is a common technique employed for Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA). With the rate of revision surgery appearing to rise and younger more active patients requiring primary surgery it can be thought that alternative methods for increasing implant longevity need to be considered. The stress shielding of periprosthetic bone still remains a contributing factor to implant loosening, caused through a mismatch in stiffness between the implant and the bone. However, the ability to achieve stiffness matching characteristics is being realised through the use of Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) technologies and Functionally Graded Materials (FGM). This paper proposes an alternative design methodology for a monoblock Cobalt Chrome Molybdenum (CoCrMo) femoral stem. It hypothesises that a femoral stem suitable for cementless fixation can be manufactured using Laser Melting (LM) technology offering orthotropic functionally graded porous structures with similar mechanical properties to human bone. The structure and mechanical properties of the natural femur have been used as a basis for the design criteria which hypothesises that through a combination of numerical analysis and physical testing, an optimal design can be proposed to provide a lightweight, customised femoral stem that can reduce the risk of implant loosening through stress shielding whilst maintaining bone-implant interface stability.