New hip is sure to help

The Queen Mother has benefited from one. So too has Jimmy Young. But while artificial hip replacement operations help over 50,000 people in the UK every year to become more mobile, changing lifestyles result in excessive wear and tear - and the need for costly revision operations.

Now university researchers, supported by private sector partners, are working on the development of a pioneering prototype prosthesis said to represent a major advance in total hip replacements.

The University of Bradford has teamed up with Leeds University and three leading industry sector companies to create the 'Surehip'. The three-year, near-£900,000 research programme, involving collaborative work on the wear performance of artificial hips, has attracted funding worth over £200,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

John Bolton, Professor of Biomaterials in the University of Bradford's Department of Mechanical and Medical Engineering, is a leading member of the new research team. He explained:

Over 800,000 artificial hip joints are implanted in the world every year. In the UK alone, some one per cent of the population with severe arthritis benefit from this therapy. But as the ageing population becomes more active and lives longer and the changing lifestyles of younger people leads to a greater incidence of joint disease, the demand for hip replacements is increasing, along with the required clinical lifetime.

Hip replacements using metal and polyethylene components were first pioneered in the 1960s by Sir John Charnley and proved an ideal solution for the 70-plus age group, providing ten pain-free years. However, it is now recognised that the failure rate of the hips starts to increase rapidly beyond ten to 12 years. As a result, the need for expensive revision operations - twice as costly as the first operation - has increased dramatically and now costs the NHS an estimated £50 million per year, out of the total cost of £250 million per year for hip replacements.

With Surehip, a metal-on-metal bearing with enhanced surface hardness, researchers are confident they can create much-improved prostheses with a lifespan of more than 20 years. This, they say, has the potential to dramatically reduce the overall number and cost of revisions in the long term, as well as providing improved patient care. In addition, potential savings will increase in the future since greater numbers of younger patients and greater numbers of revisions are predicted.

The research programme involves the development of novel coatings and hybrid surface treatments utilising state-of-the-art surface engineering.

Firth Rixson Superalloys, of Glossop, Derbyshire, will develop and manufacture cobalt-based alloy materials for the artificial hips, while Multi Arc (UK) Ltd, of Consett, Co. Durham, will research and produce new surface hard coatings. Johnson & Johnson Orthopaedics, of Leeds, will design and manufacture the new hips, as well as providing marketing direction and the route to a worldwide market estimated at £600 million per year.

Wear particles which cause a chronic inflammatory reaction and lead to bone resorption and loosening are the prime reason why hip replacement operations fail. It falls to the University of Bradford to analyse lubrication and stress fields operating in the bearings, as well as researching corrosion behaviour and failure mechanisms of surface treatments. The University of Leeds will apply novel research methods to simulate wear, characterise wear particles and investigate the biological activity of debris.

Professor Bolton added: "Surehip has the potential to become the major advance in total hip replacements, which for the first time ever will provide a lifelong solution for young patients requiring hip prostheses."

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University - Public Relations - Annual Reports - 2000 Contents - Research

University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

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