Differential scanning calorimetric examination of the interfacial membrane in failed hip joint replacements

Abstract

Abstract Aseptic and septic periprosthetic osteolysis following total hip arthroplasty has become increasingly recognized as a major clinical problem. An aggressive granulomatous tissue, the interfacial membrane, develops at the interface between the bone and the prostheses or the bone and the cement. Our hypothesis was that during the septic and aseptic loosening of the total hip arthroplasty, there is a clear pathological abnormality in the tissue elements building up the interfacial membrane, which is responsible for the different aetiologies of the disease and could be monitored besides the classical methods by differential scanning calorimetry. In our study, the interfacial membrane pieces removed during operations of revision hip arthroplasties in the cases of aseptic loosening and during prosthesis removals in the cases of septic implant loosening. We investigated stem parts of cemented hip arthroplasties only. Our measurements were carried out on eight septic and 12 aseptic samples. With our inves...