Loughborough team optimises topology to promote bone growth
New orthopaedic implant devices that promote faster healing could be available in the future following research that reveals which structures best promote bone healing.
The study, led by Dr Carmen Torres-Sanchez, a Reader in Multifunctional Materials Manufacturing at Loughborough University, tested implant designs currently in use and compared them to novel designs to better understand what structures bone-building cells favour.
Dr Torres-Sanchez and her team found that the cells are sensitive to topology and this can be exploited to help tissue heal faster.
The new paper, published in the Advanced Engineering Materials Journal, shows that the researchers were able to accelerate bone healing by making design adjustments. This study has also been published in a special series titled Women in Engineering Materials.
Dr Torres-Sanchez said she hopes the study findings will “see clinical application in the very near future to help trauma and bone cancer patients.”
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Orthopaedic implants are used to replace missing joints or bone sections, or to support a damaged or diseased bone.
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