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Wednesday September 12, 2001 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
25th Meeting of European Society for Biomaterials, London, UK
Sponsored by The UK Department of Trade and Industry
Cost: £25 for Non-members of CAM12 Industrial Advisory Group (must be registered for ESB2001)
Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) has been the material of choice for the wear surfaces (against metallic or ceramic counterfaces) of total joint replacements for the past three decades. The life of orthopaedic prostheses is limited by the wear performance of the UHMWPE used. Gamma irradiation in air has been the most common method of sterilisation for this material, but has been found to result in a gradual degradation in physical properties over time, influencing the long term wear performance. As a consequence, research and development in this area has focused on alternative processing by radiation crosslinking for improved wear resistance, as well as packaging and sterilisation in a low oxygen environment. This has been accompanied by the development of accelerated ageing methodologies that can rapidly evaluate and compare any newly developed material processing, sterilisation or packaging technology. This is intended to ensure early identification of the most effective processing, sterilisation and packaging combination, which will, in the long term, lead to improved wear performance of total joint replacements.
This workshop will include the most up-to-date methods available for accelerated ageing, characterisation and wear testing of UHMWPE and an overview of the latest standards development. Engineers and scientists from the orthopaedics community are encouraged to attend.
Workshop Schedule:
| 5:30 pm |
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Refreshments |
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| 5:45 |
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Methods for Accelerated Ageing and Evaluation
of UHMWPE
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Dr Fraser Buchanan |
| 6:15 |
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Assessing the Wear Performance of UHMWPE
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Professor John Fisher |
| 6:45 |
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International Perspective of Standards Development
and Overview of New Miniature Specimen Mechanical
Test Methods for UHMWPE
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Dr Steven Kurtz |
| 7:15 |
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Questions & Discussion |
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Speaker Profiles
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Dr. Fraser Buchanan was appointed as Lecturer in Materials in the School of Mechanical Engineering, Queen’s University, Belfast in 1998. Dr Buchanan has been involved in various aspects of materials degradation research for over 10 years and, more recently, has managed a DTI funded programme on developing methodologies for testing UHMWPE used in medical implants. He has recently been awarded an ESSO fellowship, identifying him as one of the top new Engineering lecturers in the UK. |
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Professor John Fisher is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Dean of Research in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Leeds, UK. He leads a 50 strong research group in the fields of Orthopaedics, Cardiovascular Implants and Tissue Engineering. He works extensively with clinicians and industry and was awarded the DTI President’s Prize for his collaborative work in 1998. |
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Dr. Steven Kurtz is a Principal Engineer from Exponent, Inc., the leading scientific and engineering consulting company in the United States. Dr. Kurtz is also the Director of the Implant Research Centre at the School of Biomedical Engineering of Drexel University, where he oversees a prospective, traceable implant retrieval program. Dr. Kurtz has authored dozens of publications related to UHMWPE and played a leading role in the development of new standards for characterization of UHMWPE at ASTM and ISO. Dr. Kurtz is the founding editor of the online compendium for medical grade UHMWPE at www.uhmwpe.org. |
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Fraser Buchanan
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Queen’s University, Belfast
Phone: 02890274130
Fax: 02890661729
Email: f.buchanan@qub.ac.uk
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