Injectable Bone Polymer Could Enter US Market by 2010
Scientists in the UK have come up with an injectable substance that may remove the need for painful grafting of broken bones.
Made by Professor Kevin Shakesheff and colleagues at Nottingham University, the biodegradable substance known as “the injectable bone” won a prestigious medical innovation award last week, and researchers hope the substance will be used in the U.S. within 18 months.
The toothpaste-like substance forms a scaffold over which the body’s own bone grows. While conventional cements give off heat as they harden, killing surrounding cells, and making them unusable in some parts of the body, this polymer does not.
Professor Shakesheff said it was easy to inject into the right part of the body without a surgical incision. Only when the substance reaches body temperature will it become hard.
"Not only does the patient need to be opened up, he or she is left with a damaged area – using this would avoid that,” said Shakesheff.
"We believe we can just insert the needle, follow it to the right spot and inject the polymer, which will fill the desired area, and set as hard as the bone on either side. Because the material does not heat up, surrounding bone cells survive and can grow."
However, since the join between the polymer and the bone is weaker, a leg fracture would still require metal pins to keep it from shearing apart when the patient walked.
However, he said that the lack of heat as the substance set meant that it could potentially be used in other applications where a tough scaffold was needed to support the growth of new cells, such as a damaged heart.
"As an orthopedic surgeon, being able to work with a substance that is flexible, as opposed to using hard bone will make a real difference,” said Andy Goldberg, a consultant orthopedic surgeon at the Nuffield Orthopedic Centre in Oxford, and a co-founder of the Medical Futures awards.
"The fact that it doesn’t heat up when in the body, like many other injectable substances is a significant breakthrough."
Professor Richard Oreffo, a specialist in musculoskeletal science at the University of Southampton, said that the material had potential.
"As I understand it, the advantage it has is that the patient’s own cells and growth factors can be delivered with it, and because everything happens at room temperature, they are delivered intact to the patient."
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