Release of cobalt and nickel from a new total finger joint prosthesis made of vitallium.

An in vivo study of a new total finger joint prosthesis was performed to evaluate a biological ingrowth system of attachment of the device to bone. The prosthesis consisted of two conical ribbed ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene plugs that were fixed by impaction into the medullary cavity after reaming. A cobalt--chromium alloy metal stemmed hinge slides inside the plugs with the joint articulation at the end of the stem. The focus of this study was to measure the concentration of cobalt and nickel in the serum, erythrocytes, and periarticular tissue (muscle from the sartorius and vastus medialis) resulting from the implantation of this device in the knee of the cat for periods of up to 1 year. The results indicate significant elevation in serum cobalt concentrations only after 5 months and increased concentrations in serum nickel which, were more pronounced after two months. Column chromatographic separations on cross-linked Dextran (G-200) shows a different distribution across the three principal protein peaks for each metal.