Acrylic Cement Advantages or Disadvantages in Orthopaedic Surgery

Abstract

Acrylic cement was introduced into practice by Sir John Charnley 40 years ago. The advantages of this cement are the good and durable fixation of the hip and knee prostheses ensuring the distribution of the forces from the implant to the bone. It is also used in vertebroplasties, osteoporosis and bone substitutes. One of the major problems associated with the use of bone cements is the decrease of the mechanical properties in time due to the incompatibility between the organic matrix and the inorganic phase. In this respect we propose the replacement of the inorganic radio-opacyfing agent with an iodine-based polymer that is compatible with poly(methymethacrylate). The new iodine-based polymer proved to have good chemical stability, low toxicity against cells and excellent radio-opacity, so it could be a potential candidate for the manufacture of the orthopaedic cements.