  When a metallic implant is in contact with human tissues, the organism reacts
and a corrosion process starts. Consequently, we might observe liberation of
metallic debris and wear. Our purpose is to measure the contamination and the
migration of these metallic elements in the surrounding tissues of the implant.
Two types of samples have been studied. First type is sample taken on
post-mortem tissues around prostheses to study contamination gradients. Second
type is sample taken on pathologic joints on periprosthetic capsular tissues in
surgical conditions. These allow estimating contamination degree. The
experiments were made on a Van de Graaff accelerator located at CERI (Centre
d'Etude et de Recherche par Irradiation, Orl\'{e}ans, France). We measure
elemental concentrations resulting from the contamination of the surface of
each sample. Results are analysed in function of the pathology and the type of
implants. According to the pathology and the location of the sampling, these
measurements show a very heterogeneous contamination by metallic elements under
particles and/or ionic species which can migrate through soft tissues by
various mechanisms
