Prostheses implanted in hard tissues cannot be processed for electron microscopic examination or microanalysis in the same way as those in other tissues. For these reasons, we have developed methods allowing light and electron microscopic studies as well as microanalysis of the interface between bone and a metal biomaterial coated by plasma-sprayed hydroxylapatite(HA) ceramic.An HA-coated titanium hip prosthesis (Corail, Landos, France), which had been implanted for two years, was removed after death (unrelated to the orthopaedic problem). After fixation it was dehydrated in solutions of increasing ethanol concentration prior to embedment in polymethylmethacrylate(PMMA). Transverse femur sections were obtained with a diamond saw and the sections then carefully ground to a thickness of 200 microns. Plastic-embedded sections were stained for calcium with a silver methenamine modification of the von Kossa method for calcium staining and coated by carbon. They have been examined by back-scatter SEM on an ISI-SS60 operated at 25 KV. EDAX has been done on cellular inclusions and extracellular bone matrix.
