Effect of the sterilization process on physical and mechanical properties of the Bonacryl bone cement

The use of bone cements of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to fix artificial prosthesis to the human body is a habitual method in orthopedic surgery. The hip and the knee joints have a very complex biomechanics and support high loads, for these reasons, acrylic bone cements have to comply with international standards in order to secure the biofuncionality and durability of the implant. In this work we report the effect of sterilization by ethylene oxide or gamma radiation on the BONACRYL Cuban cement. We determined how sterilization methods affect the molecular weight of the polymer as well as its quasi-static mechanical properties. The results demonstrated that the gamma radiation modifies the molecular weight of the PMMA although the compression and bending strength were not affected by the sterilization process applied.