Crosslinked polyethylene compared to conventional polyethylene in total hip replacement: pre-clinical evaluation, in-vitro testing and prospective clinical follow-up study.

Background: Polyethylene wear-induced osteolysis is a major cause of implant loosening in total hip arthroplasty. New crosslinked polyethylenes are presumed to give lower wear rates, but no long-term clinical results are available yet.

Patients And Methods: We compared basic material characteristics and MTS hip joint simulator wear rates of a crosslinked polyethylene (Duration) to those of conventional polyethylene.