The hip joints of human body are the most moveable joints and function under critical conditions of loading in the body. These joints are prone to degenerative and inflammatory disease that lead to pain and joint stiffness. The hip joint is one of the most highly stressed joints. This is why this point is often subject to wear (osteoarthritis). If it not possible to alleviate discomfort through conservative treatment or a different type of surgical intervention, the replacement of the damaged joint with an artificial joint helps. This is known as an endoprosthesis.
In fact, 25% population over the age of 60 suffers from some degree of degenerative joint diseases. In India, about 1 lakh of patients suffer every year from degenerative hip joints. These diseases often require surgery, including total joint replacement. Total Joint Replacements (TJR) have now been a well established surgical technique where artificial materials are used to replace these large numbers of knee and hip joints every year.
The conventional Hip Joint Prosthesis presently used acetabular cup made of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), femoral head and stem made metal. This conventional prosthesis has limited life span (8 to 12 years) due to more wear debris. Hence it is not suitable to younger patients. Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute (CGCRI) has improved the life span by developing Ceramic-on-Ceramic Hip Joint Prosthesis where acetabular cup and femoral head made of hot isostatically pressed alumina ceramics. This is expected to extend the life of Hip Joints by more than thirty years and it generates lesser amount of friction and wear debris that improves the performance.
I have seen the Hemi Hip and Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) having ceramic ball and ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) cup in the CSIR Technofest 2010 during November 14-27, 2010 at New Delhi, India. I have seen other photographs like after one year of the operation and patient who got operated with Hemi Hip Prosthesis.
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