Development and validation of an acoustic emission device to measure wear in total hip replacements in-vitro and in-vivo

作者：FitzPatrick Anthony J; Rodgers Geoffrey W^*; Hooper Gary J; Woodfield Tim B F

来源：Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 2017, 33: 281-288.

DOI：10.1016/j.bspc.2016.12.011

• Total joint replacement
• Acoustic emission
• Hip implant
• Diagnostic technique
• Squeaking
• Implant loosening

An increasing demand for total joint replacement surgeries has provided a great need for more effective diagnostic procedures for monitoring and identifying wear, loosening, and other failure modes in total joint replacement implants. Significant recent research attention has been focussed on the contributing factors to wear and audible squeaking of total hip replacement (THR) implants and in particular those with hard-on-hard bearing combinations. An acoustic emission (AE) monitoring prototype diagnostic device has been developed for the assessment of implant wear and stability in THR patients.
Implant vibrations have been recorded by AE monitoring during in-vivo patient testing from 90 patients with a range of age, implant type, and implant conditions. A number of these patients have gone on to have subsequent revision surgery and in-vitro testing of implant components previously tested in-vivo has been possible. The AE monitoring device has been able to detect a significant number of acoustic events, including audible squeaking, from both the in-vivo and in-vitro environments. This manuscript focusses on the data from five patients with ceramic-on-ceramic bearing interfaces for whom significant audible squeaking occurred and both in-vivo and in-vitro AE monitoring was undertaken.
Preliminary results from the in-vitro monitoring data show audible squeaking AEs have similar characteristics to in-vivo audible squeaking AEs and both have primary frequencies in the 1-4 kHz range. This study has indicated that the AE device shows promise as a potential diagnostic tool for assessing the condition of THR implants. In addition, the in-vitro technique was shown to be useful at providing further insight into the mechanisms of wear and acoustic emissions of THR implants. The study also provides important initial results for the assessment of the AE device as a diagnostic tool through the unique contribution of the testing and analysis of the same implant components in both in-vivo and in-vitro environments.

• 出版日期2017-3