Advanced imaging and 3D printing to guide early intervention implants

The Medical Device Prototype and Manufacture Unit, being established at Imperial College London with £1.7m in funding from the EPSRC, will use additive manufacturing and advanced imaging techniques to print parts with nanoscale features and then study how they interact with the human body.

The human musculoskeletal system has not caught up with improvements in life expectancy over the last 150 years or so, meaning bone and joint disorders are now one of the biggest expenditures in the NHS, according to project leader Dr Jonathan Jeffers at Imperial College.

“The current generation of orthopaedic implants are brilliant, but they tend to treat the end-stage disease, and are very invasive, because they involve chopping out the entire joint,” he said. “What surgeons need is something that can treat younger patients, to try to prevent the disease progressing.”

The researchers plan to produce early intervention implants using material that is tailored to make the surrounding bone stronger, by controlling the strain experienced.