Researchers continue to make progress in scaffolding materials that enable the body to regrow missing bone: "In contrast to long-term solutions based on titanium, degradable implants are intended to replace the missing pieces of bone only until the fissure closes itself up. That may last months or even years, depending on the size of the defect, the age and health status of the patient. A new implant improves the conditions for the healing process. It emerged from the "Resobone" project of the federal ministry for education and research, and is sized-to-fit for each patient. Unlike the conventional bony substitutes to date, it is not made up as a solid mass, but is porous instead. Precise little channels permeate the implant at intervals of just a few hundred micrometers. ... The porous canals create a lattice structure which the adjacent bones can grow into. ... the Resobone implants will primarily replace missing facial, maxillary and cranial bones. Currently, they are able to close fissures of up to 25 square centimeters in size. ... The patient's computer tomography serves as the template for the precision-fit production of the implants. The work processes - from CT imaging, to construction of the implant, through to its completion - are coordinated in such precise sequences that the replacement for a defective zygomatic bone can be produced in just a few hours, while a five-centimeter large section of cranium can be done overnight."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/press/research-news/2010/06/bone-replacement-laser-melting.jsp

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