Bone Scaffold: Medicine's Next Big Thing? -- Research Summary

BACKGROUND: More than 500,000 bone graft procedures are performed in the United States each year, and approximately 2.2 million are performed worldwide. The estimated cost of these procedures approaches $2.5 billion per year. Either autograft or allograft tissue is used in 90 percent of the procedures. Despite the benefits of autografts and allografts, the limitations and risks of each have led to the pursuit of alternatives. One such alternative is a synthetic scaffolding created by biomedical engineers at the University of Texas in San Antonio (UTSA). They invented a scaffolding that’s light, porous and biocompatible and can be used to help mend or re-grow bone. (SOURCE: Medscape)
MATERIALS: The scaffold may be used with adult stem cells to produce a new and highly-effective bone graft material. The scaffolding is made of calcium, phosphorous and oxygen, so it is found naturally in the bone. A lab-created liquid is infused into a form, baked, and then shaped into various sizes to fit a surgeon’s need. Since it looks and acts like real bone, the body can fill in the scaffold with blood and vessels.
(SOURCE: University of Texas San Antonio)
FUTURE USE: In addition to the use in spinal fusion and general orthopedics, the grafting material may one day be used to help bone cancer patients, people with birth defects, and trauma victims like soldiers or patients injured in car accidents. The scaffolds may be used to support the regeneration of craniofacial bone in patients who have lost a portion of their skulls because of surgery or disease.
This promising new technology has been five years in the making. If the bone graft product wins FDA approval, it could be on the market and in use by patients by the end of 2012. San Antonio-based GenOsteo, Inc. and Austin-based SpineSmith Partners have announced an agreement to commercialize the synthetic scaffold. MORE ►Bone Scaffold: Medicine's Next Big Thing? -- Research Summary | Medical News and Health Information: - Enviado mediante la barra Google, and ► Bone Scaffold: Medicine's Next Big Thing? | Medical News and Health Information: - Enviado mediante la barra Google
(SOURCE: University of Texas San Antonio)

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Christi Fish, Associate Director of Media Relations
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Christi.Fish@utsa.edu

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Bone Scaffold: Medicine's Next Big Thing? | Medical News and Health Information: - Enviado mediante la barra Google