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Hip Pain
Hip Replacement, X3® Advanced Bearing Technology
Latest Advances in Bearing Materials
Many things including patient weight, activity level and implant bearing surface can affect the durability of a hip implant. The bearing surface is defined as the two parts of the artificial hip that glide together throughout motion. In total hip surgery, the bearing surfaces are called the femoral head and the acetabular insert. A variety of materials are available for each of these components including cobalt chrome metals, plastics and ceramics. Over 90% of patients receiving hip replacements achieve complete relief from pain and significant improvement in joint function.1 However, artificial hips are still subject to wear and this wear may affect the long-term life of an implant. In recent years, there have been significant advances in bearing materials which are designed to help extend the life of the implants. You should talk to your physician about the best implant for you.
Locate a Doctor who uses Stryker Technology.
X3® Advanced Bearing Technology for Hips
Crosslinking is an advanced method of manufacturing polyethylene that helps improve the wear performance of the plastic insert used in total hip replacement. Acetabular inserts made from the X3® technology include special processing which contributes to its wear resistance.
The X3® bearing technology is a new, advanced polyethylene implant which has demonstrated extremely low wear in the laboratory. Through Stryker's patented manufacturing process, X3® has demonstrated a 97% wear reduction over conventional polyethylene in laboratory testing.2 This decrease in wear may extend the life of your hip implant.
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1. healthatoz.com website, Aug. 2006.
2. Stryker Test Report RD-03-082.
X3® Wear Claim
Stryker® Orthopaedics Trident® Acetabular Inserts made of X3® UHMWPE (unsterilized), 721-00-32E, show a 97% reduction in volumetric wear rate versus the same insert fabricated from N2 \Vac™ gamma sterilized UHMWPE, 620-00-32E. The insert tested was 7.5 mm thick with an inner diameter of 32 mm. Testing was conducted under multi-axial hip joint simulation for 5 million cycles using a 32 mm CoCr articulating counterface and calf serum lubricant. X3® UHMWPE Trident® Acetabular Inserts showed a net weight gain due to fluid absorption phenomena but yielded a positive slope and wear rate in linear regression analysis. Volumetric wear rates were 46.39 ± 11.42 mm 3 /10 6 cycles for N2 \Vac™ gamma sterilized UHMWPE inserts and 1.35 ± 0.68 mm 3 /10 6 cycles for X3® UHMWPE (unsterilized) Trident® Acetabular Inserts. Although in-vitro hip wear simulation methods have not been shown to quantitatively predict clinical wear performance, the current model has been able to reproduce correct wear resistance rankings for some materials with documented clinical results.a, b, c
a. Wang A. et al. Tribology International, Vol. 31, No. 1-3:17-33, 1998.
b. Essner A. et al. 44th Annual Meeting, ORS, New Orleans, Mar. 16-19, 1998:774.
c. Essner A. et al. 47th Annual Meeting, ORS, San Francisco, Feb. 25-28, 2001:1007.