Extremity Wear Testing White Paper

Wear simulation for implantable knee, hip and intervertebral spinal disc prostheses have all been well documented and standardised tests methods have been created to assess the performance of these medical device implants. 

Despite the fundamental developments in wear testing for hip, knee, and spine implants there has been little focus on extremity wear testing for other medical implants. Current knowledge of wear performance in Total Ankle Replacements (TAR) and Total Shoulder Replacements (TSR) is limited which has resulted in the need for more detailed examination of the performance of these implants both under in-vivo conditions and in the laboratory. 

Even though Total Ankle and Shoulder Replacement surgeries are much less common than other implant surgeries, the need to develop and validate standardised wear test methods is just as important, if not more important, than just focusing on improving current anatomical wear testing.