Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Nov 3;18(1):426.
doi: 10.1186/s12891-017-1784-x.

An evaluation of the potential consequences of drilling titanium and tantalum implants during surgery - a pilot study

Paweł Skowronek  1 , Paweł Olszewski  1 , Wojciech Święszkowski  2 , Marcin Sibiński  3 , Marek Synder  3 , Michał Polguj  4
Affiliations

An evaluation of the potential consequences of drilling titanium and tantalum implants during surgery - a pilot study

Paweł Skowronek et al. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. .

Retraction in

Abstract

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential consequences of drilling titanium alloy (Ti) and tantalum (Ta) implants.

Methods: During an in vitro study, four holes were made in each of two spatially porous trabecular implants: one Ta and the other Ti alloy (Ti-6Al-7Nb). The weight and the volume of particles produced during the drilling were then measured using a Radwag XA 110/2X (USA) laboratory balance.

Results: The loss of mass of the Ti and Ta implants was respectively 1.26 g and 2.48 g, and the volume of free particles was respectively 280 mm3 and 149 mm3. The particles were recovered after each stage. Despite the use of 5 μm filters, around 0.6% of the total implant mass from both implants was not recovered after drilling (roughly 2% of the mass of the particles created).

Conclusion: It is technically difficult to make holes in Ti and Ta implants using standard surgical tools, and the process creates a significant amount of metal particles which cannot be removed, despite intensive flushing. This may have a potentially adverse influence on the survival of the implant and result in negative systemic consequences.

Keywords: Augments; Drilling; Hip arthroplasty; Knee arthroplasty; Loosening; Revision.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The protocol of the study was accepted by Bioethics Committee of our institution (resolution RNN/43/13/KE dated 12 March 2013).

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Weight loss of implants: Titanium (Ti) and Tantalium (Ta)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The volume of the recovered tantalum and titanium particles from drilling the titanium (Ti), and tantalum (Ta) implants
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The percentages of recovered titanium (Ty), and tantalum (Ta) after drilling implants and the use of measurements for the different stages of the recovery of the particles with saline (NaCl) and distilled water (DW)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Meneghini RM, Ford KS, CH MC, Hahssen AD, Lewallen DG. Bone remodeling around porous metal cementless acetabular components. J Arthroplast. 2010;25:741–747. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2009.04.025. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Meneghini RM, Meyer C, Buckley CA, Hanssen AD, Lewallen DG. Mechanical stability of novel highly porous metal acetabular components in revision total hip arthroplasty. J Arthroplast. 2010;25:337–341. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2009.03.003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Levine BR, Sporer S, Poggie RA, Delia Valle CJ, Jacobs JJ. Experimental and clinical performance of porous tantalum in orthopedic surgery. Biomaterials. 2006;27:4671–4681. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2006.04.041. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kamada T, Mashima N, Nakashima Y, Imai H, Takeba J, Miura H. Mid-term clinical and radiographic outcomes of porous tantalum modular acetabular components for hip dysplasia. J Arthroplast. 2015;30:607–610. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2014.11.007. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Papadelis EA, Karampinas PK, Kavroudakis E, Vlamis J, Polizois VD, Pneumaticos SG. Isolated Subtalar distraction Arthrodesis using porous tantalum: a pilot study. Foot Ankle Int. 2015; [Epub ahead of print] - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources