Thirteen peer-reviewed papers provide the latest information onsimulator wear testing of orthopedic joint systems, as well as therelationship of simulated wear to clinical wear. Four sectionscover:

Total Knee—addresses modeling and motion constraints oftotal knee simulation; including force control, soft tissueconstraints, and slip velocity; and new concepts of modeling withneural networks or computational prediction of wear.

Vertebral Disc—covers simulation of total discprostheses. These papers represent the early stages of establishinga correlation between wear patterns seen in simulators with thoseseen in the limited number of retrievals.

Lubricants and General—focuses on the biological effectsof lubricants and wear debris. These papers emphasize theimportance of effectively separating lubricant absorption fromeffects of wear and the problem of measuring low wear ratesassociated with radiation modified polyethylene.

Total Hip—examines different setups for total hipsimulators.