Identification of wear particles in tissue after implantation of different plastic materials.

A method is shown by which to identify wear particles of implanted plastic materials in tissue. A Mettler FP2 hot stage was used to determine the melting point of different elastomer particles in normal histological sections between the crossed nicols. By using a microcolorimeter Type MPE (Leitz, Wetzlar, Germany), additional information about the molecular degradation of wear particles was obtained.