Experimental in-vitro bone cements disintegration with ultrasonic pulsating water jet for revision arthroplasty

The paper deals with the study of using the selective property of ultrasonic pulsating water jet for the disintegration of the interface created by bone cement between cemented femoral stem and trabecular bone tissue as a potential technique for revision arthroplasty. Six types of commercial bone cements based on Polymethyl Methacrylate were used for investigation. The cements were mixed using the DePuy - SmartMix (R) CTS / vacuum mixing bowl. Mechanical properties of hardened bone cements were determined by nanoindentation. The bone cement samples were disintegrated using the pulsating water jet technology. The water pressure varied between 8 divided by 20 MPa. A circular nozzle with an orifice diameter of 0,7 mm was used for water jetting. The stand-off distance from the target material was 2 mm and the traverse speed 1 mm/s. The volume of material removal and depth of created traces were measured by MicroProf FRT optical profilometer. The results positively support an assumption that pulsating water jet has a potential to be a suitable technique for the quick and safe disintegration of bone cement during revision arthroplasty