Thermal plasma sprayed coatings are designed to improve both the biocompatibility and durability of implantable medical devices, and include pure titanium, cobalt/chrome alloy and hydroxyapatite. Coated joint replacements have now been in continuous clinical use for thirty years and are applied to products manufactured or used in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Prostheses incorporating such coatings have been successfully implanted into several million of patients worldwide and to date there have been very few reports of any failure of an implant which could be attributed to problems with, or failure of, the coating. This paper summarises the early history of cementless prostheses and subsequent development, specification, validation, regulatory requirements and clinical performance of thermal plasma spray coatings provided by Accentus Medical.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.