Highly Customizable Bone Fracture Fixation through the Marriage of Composites and ScrewsShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: Advanced Functional Materials, ISSN 1616-301X, E-ISSN 1616-3028, Vol. 31, no 41, article id 2105187Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) metal plates provide exceptional support for unstable bone fractures; however, they often result in debilitating soft‐tissue adhesions and their rigid shape cannot be easily customized by surgeons. In this work, a surgically feasible ORIF methodology, called AdhFix, is developed by combining screws with polymer/hydroxyapatite composites, which are applied and shaped in situ before being rapidly cured on demand via high‐energy visible‐light‐induced thiol–ene coupling chemistry. The method is developed on porcine metacarpals with transverse and multifragmented fractures, resulting in strong and stable fixations with a bending rigidity of 0.28 (0.03) N m 2 and a maximum load before break of 220 (15) N. Evaluations on human cadaver hands with proximal phalanx fractures show that AdhFix withstands the forces from finger flexing exercises, while short‐ and long‐term in vivo rat femur fracture models show that AdhFix successfully supports bone healing without degradation, adverse effects, or soft‐tissue adhesions. This procedure represents a radical new approach to fracture fixation, which grants surgeons unparalleled customizability and does not result in soft‐tissue adhesions.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Wiley , 2021. Vol. 31, no 41, article id 2105187
Keywords [en]
biomaterials, bone fixation, materials engineering, thiol-ene composites
National Category
Polymer Chemistry Orthopaedics Biomaterials Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-297640DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202105187ISI: 000663202700001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85108182498OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-297640DiVA, id: diva2:1569807
Note
QC 20250331
2021-06-212021-06-212025-03-31Bibliographically approved