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Injectable Artificial Bone Developed
An anonymous reader writes in with the news that British scientists have invented artificial "injectable bone" that flows like toothpaste and hardens in the body. This new regenerative medicine technology provides a scaffold for the formation of blood vessels and bone tissue, then biodegrades. The injectable bone can also deliver stem cells directly to the site of bone repair, the researchers say. "Not only does the technique reduce the need for dangerous surgery, it also avoids damaging neighboring areas, said [the inventor]. The technology's superiority over existing alternatives is the novel hardening process and strength of the bond... Older products heat up as they harden, killing surrounding cells, whereas 'injectable bone' hardens at body temperature — without generating heat — making a very porous, biodegradable structure."
Inject someone, let it form a scaffold for tissue to clot and block vital organs, and then it degrades, leaving no trace. Sure beats those KGB umbrella poison injectors.
Yeah yeah. It's /. Nobody believes me.
They just don't realize how ugly these chicks have been.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
I just wonder what it 'biodegrades' into... and if you really want that in your bloodstream.
It would be my guess that if it is considered to be "biodegradable" in the human body, they mean that it is fully and wholly metabolized by the human body without generating any inflammatory or toxic reaction. There are several polymers which fit this scenario, such as one based on glycolic acid and lactic acid. The cool thing about this stuff is its rigidity and lack of tissue damage. /me isn't close to a medical student, but google can make me sound like I am.
It's gonna be a whopping 15 seconds before the body modification types get their hands on this, and start using it to implant horns, bumps, random appendages, what-have-you wherever they please :P
Anyone ever see the story about the guy who implanted horns on himself? http://www.ambient.ca/bodmod/implants.html
This seems like a much better alternative than silicone or teflon or whatever they're using these days. I could go for
...you just make a little hole or two, yank everything around to where you want it, squirt in some bone juice...
This product will need some careful marketing.
Bone cement (poly-methy-methacrylate (PMMA)) was originally invented to hold joint replacements in place. It is not a good long term solution, because it stress shields the bone, and then the bone basically dissolves away.
Bone cement can not "glue" two pieces of bone together, as it is only strong on compression, and will break in a few days if used for that.
The only long term solution for bones is a biological one, where new bone is grown. So far ALL of the attempts to "Grow" bone have failed. Yes there are many products out there that supposedly grow bone, but I've used most of them, and none work well at all - most just sit there like a lump of plaster.
Forming new bone is a "Holy Grail" of sorts in orthopaedic surgery, since many trauma patients, and "re-do" patients are missing bone, and we have no good way to reform the bone. This can lead to mega-prosthesis, or even amputations. There are a few ways to "stretch" out bone, but this often takes months with the patient walking around with circular metal pin frames protruding out thru their skin.
..........FULL STOP.
Similar techniques are being tried also to regrow damaged or missing cartilage.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070906104136.htm
It looks like the current trend is to use stem cells from within a patient's own body. That way there are no ethical issues and no worries about tissue rejection. Researchers are figuring out ways to extract stem cells from a patient's own blood.
http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news/Breakthrough-isolating-embryo-quality-stem-cells-from-blood-669-1/
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
You're probably not far off.
I studied this exact kind of stuff (well, very obsolete versions of it) in grad school, early 1990's. A class presentation that I gave once made the point that the three main surgical instruments used in joint-replacement surgeries were:
A saw.
A drill.
A hammer.
And these surgeries are violent.
This injectable bone idea, while not brand new, is very interesting, and I have to appreciate that a non-exothermic hardening process is a significant part of that. Some polymers used as fixatives in implants, like (very possibly obsolete) poly-methyl methacrylate, are *very* exothermic as they set, and extreme care has to be taken to use only the minimal required amount; picture a thicker-than-necessary glob of the stuff sitting in an unevenly-drilled femur as the shaft of a hip replacement is put into place, and that glob heating up as it sets, weakening or destroying the bone, and at least (I'd imagine) causing incomprehensible pain.
So, this non-exothermic stuff is way cool.
The biodegradable aspect (calling to mind poly-lactic acid artery/vein grafts, which degrade into plain ol' lactic acid, which the body knows how to deal with) is a serious bonus.