Transparent implant provides 'window' to the brain

The University of California, Riverside team’s implant is made from yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ), the same ceramic material currently used in hip implants and dental crowns that has been processed in a way to make it transparent.

Since YSZ has already proven itself to be well-tolerated by the body in other applications, the team’s advance now allows use of YSZ as a permanent window through which doctors can aim laser-based treatments for the brain, importantly, without having to perform repeated craniectomies, which involve removing a portion of the skull to access the brain.

‘This is a case of a science fiction sounding idea becoming science fact, with strong potential for positive impact on patients,’ said Guillermo Aguilar, a professor of mechanical engineering at UC Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE).

Aguilar is part of a team of 10 comprised of faculty, graduate students and researchers from UC Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering and School of Medicine, who recently published a paper ‘Transparent Nanocrystalline Yttria-Stabilized-Zirconia Calvarium Prosthesis’ about their findings Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine.