Pitch-based carbon-fibre-reinforced poly (ether-ether-ketone) OPTIMA assessed as a bearing material in a mobile bearing unicondylar knee joint.

The introduction of unicondylar knee prostheses has allowed the preservation of the non-diseased compartment of the knee while replacing the diseased or damaged compartment. In an attempt to reduce the likelihood of aseptic loosening, new material combinations have been investigated within the laboratory. Tribological tests (friction, lubrication, and wear) were performed on metal-on-carbon-fibre-reinforced (CFR) poly (ether-ether-ketone) (PEEK) (pitch-based) mobile unicondylar knee prostheses up to 5 x 10(6) cycles. Both a loaded soak control and an unloaded soak control (both medial and lateral components) were used to compensate for weight change due to lubricant absorption. For this material combination the loaded soak control gave slightly lower wear for both the medial and the lateral components than did the unloaded soak control. The medial components gave higher steady state wear than the lateral components (1.70 mm3 per 10(6) cycles compared with 1.02 mm3 per 10(6) cycles with the loaded soak control). The results show that the CFR PEEK unicondylar knee joints performed well in these wear tests. They gave lower volumetric wear rates than conventional metal-on-ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene prostheses have given in the past when tested under similar conditions. The friction tests showed that, at physiological viscosities, these joints operated in the boundary-mixed-lubrication regime. The low wear produced by these joints seems to be a function of the material combination and not of the lubrication regime.