A PhD. student from the TPU Institute of Physics and Technology is developing bioresorbable orthopedic implants based on magnesium alloys. Such implants are capable both to substitute damaged bones and become the basis to cultivate the body’s own bone tissue.
“A traditional method to treat fractures is the replacement of damaged bones with metal implants made of stainless steel, titanium and its alloys. However, after the healing of the fracture a repeated surgery is required to remove the metal construction. In this regard, bioresorbable magnesium alloys which can be applied as soluble implants are pretty promising,” says the developer Timur Mukhametkaliev.
Magnesium alloy implants are capable slowly to dissolve in the human body and be replaced with new bone formation.
According to Timur Mukhametkaliev, magnesium was chosen due to its specific features: it is not toxic, part of humane metabolism (the adult human body contains up to 40 g of magnesium), having mechanical properties similar to human bone.
The only drawback of magnesium is its fast solubility in the body. The doctorate student solved this issue by covering the implants with bioactive hydroxyapatite protective coating. They are deposited on the magnesium surface in the modified RF-magnetron sputtering plasma chamber.
Now the applications of magnesium in implantology are studied by scientific research groups across the world. While an efficient technology has been developed by the Tomsk polytechnicers and their colleagues from South Korea, Germany and Canada only.
Timur Mukhametkaliev is developing magnesium implants under the leadership of the TPU Technology Center’s Chief Roman Surmenev, backed by the Russian Science Foundation.
The polytechnicers have already published their results obtained in leading scientific journals in Russia and abroad. The fellows of the TPU Technology Center are the members of the Research Consortium on Novel Methods to Modify Surface Properties of Biodegradable Magnesium Alloys.