The introduction of total joint arthroplasty throughout the world has contributed manifold
benefits to patients who suffer from joint diseases. Concurrently however there has been an
increase in revision surgery. Many orthopedic surgeons agree that durability of prostheses is
an eternal problem. In particular periprosthetic osteolysis recently has been identified as
one of the serious problems affecting prosthetic dura bility. To improve durability osteolysis
and many other problems must be investi gated and solved both experimentally and clinically
with respect to such aspects as prosthetic material design and biological and biomechanical
behavior. This book comprises 37 papers that were presented by orthopedic surgeons and
biomedical engineers at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Replace ment
Arthroplasty held in March 1998 in Kanazawa Japan. The volume is thus a compilation of the
latest knowledge about the pathogenesis and reduction of osteolysis and wear newly developed
total hip prostheses and other current topics of total knee arthroplasty. We earnestly hope
that this book will be of benefit to clinicians and researchers and that it will contribute to
the creation of more durable total joint prostheses in the future. SHINICHI IMURA v Contents
Preface .................... ' .. .. .. ... . .. .. .. . ... .. . . .. . ... . . .. . V List of
Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XI . . . .
. . . . . . . . Part 1 Wear and Pathogenesis of Osteolysis Friction and Wear of Artificial
Joints: A Historical Review N. AKAMATSU ................................................ 3
Matrix Degradation in Osteoclastic Bone Resorption Under Pathological Conditions .
