Surface Design for Medical Implants

Nowadays medical implants are high-tech products which are designed according to comprehensive experiences from medicine, material science and surface science. A prolonged duration of joint endoprostheses is achieved by a sophisticated surface design according to the different functionality of the implant surface. Therefore the main aspects are wear reduction and stimulated bone apposition to the load-bearing implant surfaces. Different coating methods suit the functional needs. Medical aspects as well as those of technological developments are discussed. (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)