Biomaterial That's Bone-Hard

Rupturing your crucial ligament can be a painful process and requires two surgeries, one to repair the torn ligament with a piece of tendon from the leg and this is put on the bone with an interferential screw. However, the screw is not biodegradable and must then be removed in a different procedure. Here is where the researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research (IFAM) in Bremen come in, they have created a "robust bioactive and resorbable screw by means of a special injection molding process" which usually biodegrades in 24 months (depending on the composition). The idea of biodegradable screws are not a new idea as polylactic screws have been used for a while, but they have the disadvantage of leaving holes in the bone, the IFAM decided they wanted to create a better product and created the new screws using polylactic acid and hydroxylapatite, a ceramic which is the main constituent of the bone mineral. Since the screws are being formed in a mold, they can more easily be tailored to the individual patient's needs and allows for a more complex geometric shape to be made. the screws have many of the same properties of bones and almost have the same compressive strength of 130 N/m^2 where bones are between 130-180 N/m^2. A final point is how much energy can be saved using this process, where the other powder injection models of screws need 1400°C this only needs 140°C saving tons of money on energy costs.



I chose this article because it shows that improvements can always be made on any procedure and it all starts from engineers thinking outside of the box and coming up with ideas that limit patient's time in recovery. To me, another interesting point is that nothing is ever better than what you "came with."