Jan 31 2019
The best existing method for complicated wounds and other conditions needing bone grafts entails autologous bone harvesting and re-implantation at the regrowth site. However, since this process is invasive and restricted by a limited supply of suitable donor material, synthetic graft-extending material is preferred.
In a new article reported in Tissue Engineering, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers, scientists demonstrate the first use of poly(thioketal urethane) (PTKUR) as an autologous graft extender in the technically challenging intertransverse process regeneration rabbit model.
Scott Guelcher, PhD, from the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN, working in collaboration with colleagues from Vanderbilt and the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research, Houston, TX, put forward their research in an article titled “Poly(Thioketal Urethane) Autograft Extenders in an Intertransverse Process Model of Bone Formation.” The scientists demonstrate that PTKUR offers strength equivalent to the bone with handling properties comparable to bone cement. Above all, PTKUR allowed an approximately 50% decrease in autograft material with considerably no compromise on bone healing in this demanding model.
This paper presents a valuable new biomaterial-based autograft extender that can be used to treat critical-sized bone defects that may not heal with bone cements or void fillers alone. Such an advancement may have dramatic positive effects on current treatments to support bone healing.
John P. Fisher, PhD, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Tissue Engineering.
John P. Fisher is a Fischell Family Distinguished Professor and Department Chair, and also the Director of the NIH Center for Engineering Complex Tissues at the University of Maryland.