Alternative bearing materials for intervertebral disc arthroplasty.

The objective of our study was to test alternative polymer-on-polymer articulations for cervical total disc arthroplasty with favourable biotribological properties and the benefit of radiolucency in comparison to the clinically well established metal-on-polyethylene coupling. In vitro wear simulation was performed according to ISO 18192-1:2008 (E) with the clinically introduced activ C cervical artificial disc (Aesculap AG Tuttlingen, Germany) made of UHMWPE/CoCr29Mo6 in a direct comparison to experimental disc articulations made of PEEK, CFR-PEEK and PEK. Each material combination was tested for 10 million cycles with a customised 6 station spinal wear simulator (EndoLab Thansau, Germany).