The 2025 James A. Rand, MD Young Investigator’s Award Goes to Presentation on “Nickel Free” vs. Standard Cobalt-Chrome

At the 2025 AAHKS Annual Meeting, our host William B. Kurtz, MD had the great opportunity to sit with Michael E. Neufeld, MD, MSc, FRCSC whose study Synovial Metal Ions in “Nickel Free” vs. Standard Cobalt-Chrome Containing Total Knee Replacement won the James A. Rand, MD Young Investigator’s Award. 

It was a case-controlled study, consisting of 22 patients with metal allergies and 19 controls with patients that underwent standard knee replacement with cobalt-chrome containing knees. What made this study so fascinating is that implants are hypoallergenic, containing no nickel in them, however Dr. Neufeld’s study found that nickel content in the hypoallergenic knee was four times higher than the standard cobalt-knee. So, our host and Dr. Neufeld discuss all possible explanations for why in this study implants had higher nickel in the synovial fluid. 

Listen and learn what their hypothesizes were for this. Be sure to subscribe and thanks for listening to AAHKS Amplified!

In This Episode:
William B. Kurtz, MD
Michael E. Neufeld, MD, MSc, FRCSC