Biological and Biomechanical Performance of Biomaterials Editors: P. Christel, A. Meunier and A.J.C. lee Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, 1996, pp 550, St24

This volume constitutes Volume 6 of a series of Advances in ~jo~ateria/s initiated by the late George Winter in 1980 in conjunction with John Wiley 8 Sons and continued since Volume 5 by the European Society for Biomaterials in collaboration with the present publisher.

The series continues, as was its’ original intent, to present collections of papers from national and international meetings in the field of biomaterials. This volume contains 85 contributions arising from papers presented at the 5th European Conference on Biomaterials which was held in Paris, France, on September 4-5, 1985. The content is diverse, reflecting the nature of the Conference, including groups of papers on biomaterials used in muscufoskeletal, soft tissue and cardiovascular applications as well more fundamental papers on blood-material interactions and specific issues in biological response. Additional papers cover specialized topics including biomaterials for drug delivery. The volume is rounded out by manuscripts of three major keynote addresses (by A. Ascenzi, A. Cappozo and M. Refojo) as well as a complete authors index and a brief but useful subject index.

The reviewer is sceptical of the merit of volumes of conference proceedings. They tend to be poorly edited, of uneven quality and to present brief glimpses of work in progress. Furthermore, they usually appear too long a time after the conference to be of an~hing but historical interest.

This volume shows how to do a difficult job very well. It was produced under the close guidance of the three editors, with the help of more than sixty reviewers. As a result, in

most cases the papers show signs of having been carefully read and criticized. It is selective, rather than trying to include manuscripts of all papers presented at the 1985 Conference. The addition of the keynote papers and indices raises its content above the usual level of such works. Finally, it was available less than a year after the close of this Conference.

Despite these merits, the reviewer remains somewhat uninformed as to the objectives for this book. The stated purpose of the series is ‘. . . to build a coherent body of knowledge for the use of students and practitioners in biomaterials, for the ultimate benefit of patients.’ However, much of what appears here is a duplication of papers which have been or will be published, in greater detail, in indexed peer reviewed publications. Despite the effort put into preparing them, many papers have no more content than the long form abstracts published during the Conference. Furthermore, in drawing from a Conference, the editors are handicapped in dealing broadly with the research field, in comparison to editors of the more usual ‘Advances in.. .’ series who rely completely upon invited contributions.

This work certainly gives the reader a very good sense of the high quality and broad scope of the Conference. It will be particularly useful in providing current information to students and others who were not able to attend. However, its high cost probably renders it suitable for acquisition only by libraries and large research groups.

Jonathan Black

Corrosion and Degradation of Implant Materials Second Symposium Editors: Anna C. Fraker and Charles D. Griffin ASTM Special Technical Publicatien No. 659. Publisher ASTM, Philadelphia, 1985, pp 457, f62 (UK)

As the product of a symposium on the theme of Corrosion rate mechanical properties. The comparative corrosion and Degradation of Implant Materials the 30 chapters cover properties of similar alloys prepared as cast, wrought and metallic materials, pyrolytic carbon, polymeric materials, powder metallurgy samples is the subject of the next chapter ceramics, retrieval analysis and standards. Both in vitro and (Kumar). Stress corrosion cracking as a factor in stainless in viva studies are treated. The editors refer, in their steel implant failure is described in the next chapter by introduction, to the need to re-assess the biocompatibility Sheehan et a/. A development of stress corrosion studies and durability of materials in the human body and this book is using fracture mechanics related to steel and titanium alloy a timely contribution to that need. follows (Bundy).

Greene reviews basic corrosion principles and then Edwards deals with hydrogen embri~lement of a hot isostati~lly pressed Co-Cr-Mo alloy in a series of experiments designed to test effects of corrosion potential on slow strain

In turning to metallic implantsjn vitro the first paperon hip nails (Piehler) compares various types of nail indicating superior corrosion-fatigue behaviour of Ti-GAl -4V devices compared with steel (316L). Plates and screws are subject

158 Biomaterials 1987. Vol8 March

to fretting interactions and Brown and Merritt address this and show significant effects of protein and of mixed metals iMP35N and titanium). Polarization studies on hip joint alloys (~gundele) and effects of ele~tropolishing (icing) conclude this section.

A group of four papers follows on aneurysm clips (Kossowsky), external fixators (Donald), dental alloys (Marek) and porous coatings tHahn). Pitting corrosion failure of aneurysm clips is a potentially fatal failure and this study identifies devices predisposed to failure and proposes screening procedures. It is a major concern since 28 000 new cases are expected per annum in North America. Although the heading of the section refers to pyrolytic carbon this is not covered.

In v&o-in vitro correlations are the subject of the next three chapters. Merri~ and Brown review their leu~o~~e migration test and Lucas et a/. compare cells obtained from fibrous capsules around implants with fibroblast cells grown in culture. Steel 3 1 SL is used. Systemic transport of ions in a rabbit model is used by Smith and Blake and the study emphasizes the necessity to consider the whole biol~i~al ‘eco’ system when determining implant biological per- formance. Implant corrosion rate appears not to exceed the specific binding capacity of the blood transport compartment.

The next 7 chapters on polymers deal with a biocompatibility model (Marchant) silicone host response (Stevenson) and durability (Frisch), polyester arteries (King, Guidoin et al.), polyurethanes (two papers by Szycher and Parins) and biodegradable bone plates (Casper). Together with the paper in the next section on UHMWPE wear by McKellop this gives a good overview of some of the mainstream uses of polymers.

It is interesting to read in the discussion an Swanson’s paper that there is no correlation b&ween rate of lipid absorption, implant fracture and duration of implantation. The development by Dow Corning of the high performance elastomer ffrisch) is a useful development in this group of elastomers. However mechanical property testing may not reveal molecular changes occurring in implanted materials. The chemical aspects of degradation are addressed in the papers on polyesters and polyurethanes.

Surprisingly the only paper on ceramics was that by Lemons on ‘Tricalcium phosphate biodegradable ceramic’. It is very short and does not seem to take account of the considerable European or Japanese experience with these materials.

In acrylic cement creep and total hip femoral prostheses ~Ebramzadeh), this detailed study confirms the concern about the contribution of cement to prosthesis failure (up to 40% loosening reported).

Two papers on retrieval analysis and two on standards and regulation conclude the book. It is surprising that more attention generally is not given to retrieval analysis but it may reflect the fact that materials so examined are already out of date. Development of the systemic type studies of Black and Brown may well be more significant for future patient monitoring. The introduction of performance standards mooted in the two final papers may be relevant here if objective methods of performance determination can be derived.

This is a useful contribution to biomaterials science showing gaps in knowledge, achievements and trends.

G.W. Hastings

AN INVITATION TO ATTEND

13th ANNUAL MEETING

JUNE 3 -JUNE ‘7 1987

NEW YORK WALDORF

Scientific Program 0 Poster & Podium Workshops Presentations Special Symposia 0 Tutorials Panel Discussions 8 Plenary Lectures Social Program l Technical Exhibits

CONTACT: DR. A. NORMAN CRANIN

ASTORIA

BROOKDALE HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER l Deparment of Dental and Oral Surgery Linden Blvd. at Brookdale Plaza 1 Brooklyn, N.Y. 11212 . 718-485-8248