Patent ID: 6726727
Filing Date: 2004-04-27
Classification: A61L,C08L

Abstract:
A method of producing an UHMWPE medical implant for use in a body comprising the steps of:crosslinking the UHMWPE; annealing the UHMWPE; machining the UHMWPE to form said implant; wear testing the implant; analyzing wear particles created by said step of wear testing, said step of analyzing having sufficient sensitivity to detect particles having sizes of 0.05 &mgr;m or less; determining the number of particulate debris; and selecting a crosslinking irradiation dose that exhibits the lowest number of particulate debris relative to that exhibited by non-crosslinked UHMWPE treated by all of the above steps except said crosslinking step and said selecting step, and wherein the wear particles are decreased to a particle number of less than that exhibited by non-crosslinked UHMWPE treated by all of the above steps except said crosslinking step and said selecting step.