No abstract

In all acrylic bone cement formulations in clinical use today, radiopacity is provided by micron-sized particles (typical mean diameter of between about 1 and 2 microm) of either BaSO(4) or ZrO(2). However, a number of research reports have highlighted the fact that these particles have deleterious effects on various properties of the cured cement. Thus, there is interest in alternative radiopacifiers. The present study focuses on one such alternative. Specifically, a cement that contains covalently bound iodine in the powder (herein designated the I-cement) was compared with a commercially available cement of comparable composition (C-ment3), in which radiopacity is provided by BaSO(4) particles (this cement is herein designated the B-cement), on the basis of the strength (sigma(b)), modulus (E(b)), and work-to-fracture (U(b)), under four-point bending, plane-strain fracture toughness (K(IC)), Weibull mean fatigue life, N(WM) (fatigue conditions: +/-15 MPa; 2 Hz), activation energy (Q), and frequency factor (ln Z) for the cement polymerization process (both determined by using differential scanning calorimetry at heating rates of 5, 10, 15, and 20 K min(-1)), and the diffusion coefficient for the absorption of phosphate-buffered saline at 37 degrees C (D). For the B-cement, the values of sigma(b), E(b), U(b), K(IC), N(WM), Q, ln Z, and D were 53 +/- 3 MPa, 3000 +/- 120 MPa, 108 +/- 15 kJ m(-3), 1.67 +/- 0.02 MPa check mark m, 7197 cycles, 243 +/- 17 kJ mol(-1), 87 +/- 6, and (3.15 +/- 0.94) x 10(-12) m(2) s(-1), respectively. For the I-cement, the corresponding values were 58 +/- 5 MPa, 2790 +/- 140 MPa, 118 +/- 45 kJ m(-3), 1.73 +/- 0.11 MPa check mark m, 5520 cycles, 267 +/- 19 kJ mol(-1), 95 +/- 9, and (3.83 +/- 0.25) x 10(-12) m(2) s(-1). For each of the properties of the fully cured cement, except for the rate constant of the polymerization reaction, at 37 degrees C (k'), as estimated from the Q and ln Z results, there is no statistically significant difference between the two cements. k' for the I-cement was about a third that for the B-cement, suggesting that the former cement has a higher thermal stability. The influence of various characteristics of the starting powder (mean particle size, particle size distribution, and morphology) on the properties of the cured cements appears to be complex. When all the present results are considered, there is a clear indication that the I-cement is a viable candidate cement for use in cemented arthroplasties in place of the B-cement.

The aim of this work was to determine an array of mechanical, physical, and thermal properties of three pairs of commercially available acrylic bone cement brands, with the brands in each pair having the same compositions except that one contains 4.22 wt/wt% gentamicin sulfate blended with the powder by the manufacturer and the other one does not. The difference between the pairs was in the viscosity of the curing cement dough, with one pair of 'low-viscosity', one pair of 'medium-viscosity', and one pair of 'high-viscosity' brands being used. Thus, the brands studied cover the range of those used in anchoring some total joint replacements (TJRs). The properties determined were the strength, modulus, and work-to-fracture (all under four-point bending), plane-strain fracture toughness, Weibull mean fatigue life (fatigue conditions: 15 MPa; 2 Hz), activation energy and frequency factor for the cement polymerization process (both determined, using differential scanning calorimetry, at heating rates of 5, 10, 15, and 20 K min (1)), and the diffusion coefficient for the absorption of phosphate-buffered saline at 37 C by the cured cement. For each property determined, there was no significant difference in the mean values for the brands in each of the pairs. These results indicate that over the range of cement brands that are widely used in the anchoring of cemented TJRs, the addition of gentamicin sulfate powder does not degrade the properties of the cement, and, hence, may not adversely affect the in vivo longevity of the replacement.