Thanks to a grant of $6 million from the Department of Defense researchers led by scientists at Houston Methodist are studying two new materials to repair complex fractures in long bones.
Defense Dollars Fund Long Bone Fracture Research
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Major injuries to long bones usually require multiple surgeries and the placement of metal screws, plates and rods. Now Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., president & CEO of the Houston Methodist Research Institute, and Ennio Tasciotti, Ph.D., director of the Center for Biomimetic Medicine and scientific director of the Surgical Advanced Technology Laboratory at Houston Methodist, and their team have found a way to regenerate large segments of missing bone in a single surgery and without the use of any supporting hardware.
According to the press release, by 2014, this team had developed two platforms that could radically change the fundamentals of orthopedic care. They found two biomaterials that work together to create a biomimetic scaffold that acts like a bridge between the ends of the broken bones. When implanted into the injury site, the scaffold supports, regrows and heals fractured bone without the need for the metallic devices traditionally used to hold broken bones together.
The scaffold is composed of a load-bearing shell made of a synthetic, non-toxic, biodegradable polymer and of another shell made of natural biomineralized collagen that promotes the growth of bone cells and accelerates the process of healing.
“We designed the materials to mimic natural, healthy tissues, so the scaffolds are not rejected by the body’s immune system and guide the injured tissues to heal better and faster, ” said Tasciotti. “Over the next three years, we will lead our biomimetic scaffolds through the arduous process of moving from the lab to first-in-human clinical trials.”
The investments by the Department of Defense are motivated, in part, by the fact that orthopedic surgeons, especially those treating patients in military conflicts, see massive trauma and high morbidity in soldiers injured by high-energy blasts.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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