Research progress of polyethylene inserts wear measurement and evaluation in total knee arthroplasty

Wear of polyethylene (PE) tibial inserts is a significant cause of implant failure of total knee arthroplasty (TKA). PE inserts wear measurement and evaluation is the key in TKA researches. There are many methods to measure insert wear. Qualitative methods such as observation are used to determine the wear and its type. Quantitative methods such as gravimetric analysis, coordinate measuring machines (CMM) and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) are used to measure the mass, volume and geometry of wear. In this paper, the principle, characteristics and research progress of main insert wear evaluation method were introduced and the problems and disadvantages were analyzed.