Influence on elemental status by hip-endoprostheses

For many clinical purposes various artificial devices are applied, which contact human tissue and can thus cause adverse reactions between prosthetic surfaces and body components. Of the many materials applied for orthopaedic joint replacements the most common are cobalt–chromium–molybdenum alloys. In these cases considerable amounts of cobalt–chromium–molybdenum wear particles are released from the prostheses which have to be regarded as a cause of long-time problems for the patient.Since these particles are dissolved in body fluids of the surrounding area they are distributed in the whole body via blood. Elevated metal concentrations have been found in blood and urine of persons with endoprostheses. Partly the metals are excreted via urine, but to some extend they accumulate in different organs.Therefore this study dealt with the development of an analytical method for the determination of seven relevant trace elements, namely Al, Co, Cr, Mo, Nb, Ni, and Ti in nine kinds of human tissue (brain, heart, kidney, liver, lung, muscle, lymphatic nodes, spleen, body fat) starting with drawing of the sample, sample work up and finally analysis by means of atomic spectrometry. The optimized method was then applied to determine the metal contents in organs of persons (post mortem) with total hip replacements with metal on metal bearing surfaces. Comparison of the data obtained with those of persons without hip-endoprostheses shows that brain and lung are the main targets for elemental accumulation in persons with hip-endoprostheses. Mo and Nb represent the elements with the highest tendency to be accumulated.