BERLIN (Dispatches)-Scientists have shown how mechanically optimized constructs known as titanium-mesh scaffolds help optimize bone regeneration.
The treatment of large bone defects in the upper or lower extremities (for instance, as the result of acute trauma, infection or bone cancer) remains a challenge in the field of trauma surgery. Bone defects of this kind do not heal on their own and, in particularly severe cases, will result in amputation of the affected limb. One treatment option available is to use the patient's own bone tissue to produce bone grafts of the correct size and strength. However, this technique has often been of limited success. An alternative treatment option, offered by colleagues from the Wyss Institute at Harvard, researchers from the Julius Wolff Institute, the Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, and Charité's Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery, is to treat large bone defects using individualized titanium-mesh scaffolds designed to fit the individual patient.
To promote bone regeneration, the titanium-mesh scaffold is filled with the patient's own bone tissue, growth factors, and bone replacement material. Led by Dr. Anne-Marie Pobloth (Julius Wolff Institute at Charité), an interdisciplinary team -- comprising trauma surgeons, engineers, veterinary surgeons and biologists -- has been studying whether mechanical optimization of the titanium-mesh scaffold might further enhance the healing process. "We started by using computer modeling to mechanobiologically optimize a standard-size scaffold. Using a large animal model, we were then able to study its actual effects on bone regeneration. As the process of bone regeneration is very similar to that found in humans, we were able to make inferences regarding bone healing in humans," explains the veterinarian.