Sulzer Brothers Limited

Heinz Weber

Otto Frey

Manfred Semlitsch

A metal grid is embedded in the contact surface of a plastic implant in order to increase the wear resistance of the plastic implant. The ridge dimensions of the metal grid are chosen so that the elasticity of the plastic implant is not unduly reduced. An additional anchoring surface formed of layers of porous metal may be secured to the embedded grid to provide a surface into which bone tissue may grow in a cementless anchorage.

Plastic bone implant having a reinforced contact surface

The porous metal overlay for an implant surface is comprised of a plurality of layers of stacked metal grids. Each layer is provided with pores which are of a size which decrease in the direction of the implant surface steadily, that is, without enlargement in an intermediate layer. The progressively decreasing porous sizes provide for a steady ingrowth and nourishment of the ingrowing tissue.

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Winterthur, Switzerland

Heinz Weber