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Metallic implants—widely used clinically to replace diseased or damaged bone tissue—are not biodegradable and stay in the human body until removed surgically. The implants may also have problems with corrosion and could cause a negative reaction with the immune system. As a result, new polymer-based biodegradable implants are being developed to provide a needed alternative to metal.
Inspired by the structure of natural bone that provides a porous load-bearing scaffold to house soft biological cells, Assistant Professor Pranav Soman and his research team are using 3-D printing to create polymer scaffolding that can be filled with bone-forming human cells.
The polymer scaffold provides the initial support structure, while the cells eventually fill in and develop into bone, replacing the polymer that slowly degrades, providing a more natural replacement for the bone.
[...]The polymer component used in this work is called PCL, a Food and Drug Administration-approved biomaterial. This polymer is processed at a high temperature and then filled with gelatin laden with bone-forming cells that can deposit bone mineral or hydroxyapatite within the gelatin matrix. Once filled and exposed to ultraviolet light, the hybrid structure can both support the load and sustain the growth of the cells.
No more casts, no more pins.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday April 19 2017, @05:51PM (1 child)
This sounds only useful in cases where a pin or a case wouldn't suffice. Think...to get it in place they need to cut you open sufficiently to get the new material in place, and the get the ends to mesh properly they probably need to shape the bits of your old bone left in place.
In the cases where this kind of treatment is appropriate, it's probably wondrous, but those cases look, to me, as if they are really extremely severe. They can't print it in place because they need to harden it by exposure under UV. ... Well, perhaps they could, but now you need to fit into the surgery not only building the bone, filling it with gel, but also the UV lights to harden it. Whoops!
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by DavePolaschek on Thursday April 20 2017, @01:14PM
Joint replacement surgery already involves tools by Black & Decker. Crowbars, saws, chisels. It's pretty seriously medieval.
The new UV-hardened fillings for teeth manage to UV-cure with a light inside your mouth. Joint surgery has tons of room by comparison.