Lectures Flashcards
Describe biocompability
Between material and body; a measure on how well the material can integrate. Can’t give any harming effects. Also about the ability to perform its desired function.
What is the usage of biomaterials in the body? (5 ex)
- Internal fracture fixation
- Joint replacements
- Bone fillers
- Scaffolds
- Carriers for drug delivery
What is the structure of polymers?
Monomers linked together by primary covalent bonds
Attractive features of polymers?
- Greatest versability in chemistry and processing
- Lighter than metals
- Used as composite materials with ceramics
Requirements for polymers?
- Chemical biocompability
- Sterilization stability
- Low friction coefficient
- Wear resistant
- Creep resistance
Usage for polymers?
- Total joint replacements
- Fixation parts for bone fracture
- Tissue engineering (bone, cartilage)
- Local drug delivery (coatings, micro-/nanospheres- drug carriage)
- Bone filler/cement
Define biocompability:
The ability of a biomaterial to perform its desired function, without eliciting any undesirable local or systemic effects.
Steps to assure biocompability:
Research on biomaterials => Engineering to develop a medical device => Preclinical and clinical testing => Regulatory approval => Commercialization and clinical application
Name different available “off the shelf”-materials (9 st)
- Fe (Iron)
- Au (gold)
- Ag (Silver)
- Pt (Platinum)
- Steel (Nickel, Vanadium)
- CoCrMo (Cobalt Chromium Molybdenum)
- Stainless steel
- PMMA (Poly(methyl methacrylate))
- Ti (Titanium) alloys
Name different “designed” biomaterials.
- Polymers (acrylic cements, silicones)
- UHMWPE (Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene)
- Polylactic acid
- Hydroxyapatite, bioglass
- Porous Ta (trabecular metal)
- Oxidized Zr-Nb (Oxinium)
Describe the first generation of biomaterials
Goal: Bioinertness
Minimal reactions/interaction
Describe the second generation of biomaterials
Goal: Bioactivity
Resorbable materials; controlled reaction with the physiological environment (e.g bone bonding, drug release)
Describe the third generation of biomaterials
Goal: Regenerate functional tissue
Biointeractive, integrative, resorbable materials; stimulate specific cell responses (e.g proliferation, differentiation, ECM production, organization)
What are the concerns about using polymers?
- Long term chemical biocompability
- Wear debris (osteolysis)
What is osteolysis?
the pathological destruction or disappearance of bone tissue.
Describe the usage of PMMA:
- Bone filler/cement
- Immediate fixation of a total joint implant within the medullary canal
- Minimizes the need for perfect fit between bone and implant
- Used for patients with poor bone cement
Describe the liquid chemical composition of PMMA bone cement:
- Monomer (methyl methacrylate)
- Curing accelerator (N, N-dimethyl-p-toluidine)
- Polymerization inhibitor (hydroquinone)
Describe the solid chemical composition of PMMA bone cement:
- PMMA powder
- Initiator (benzoyl peroxide)
- Radio-opaque additive (BaSO_4)
What are the sideeffects of PMMA?
- Exothermic in-situ polymerization (80 - 124 degrees celsius) - PMMA particle size, polumer/monomer ratio
- Produces debris through fatique and biological processes as osteolysis (bone loss) and third-body wear of the acetabular cup and/or femoral head.
- Extra interface (bone-cement-implant), reduce implant life span by loosening.
Implant may be hard to remove in case of revision surgery
What is an alternative implant fixation instead of PMMA?
Osseointegration
How is UHMWPE used in orthopedics?
- Bearing material in Total Joint Replacement
- Hip, knee, shoulder, wrist, finger, toe joints
What is the physiological role of cartilage?
Low-friction bearing surface of the articular joints (hip, knee, shoulder)
What does articular cartilage mean?
Articular cartilage is the smooth, white tissue that covers the ends of bones where they come together to form joints.
What does hyaline cartilage mean?
a translucent bluish-white type of cartilage present in the joints, the respiratory tract, and the immature skeleton.
What are the components of cartilage?
- Extracellular matrix: proteoglycans, collagen
- Cells: chondocytes
- Water: 60-80 %
What is the role for polymeric biomaterials in tissue engineering?
- Temporary support for cellular infiltration and growth
- Carrier for the release of bioactives in a controlled manner (doses and kinetics)
What are the pros and cons of synthetic polymers?
+ Good processing characteristics
+ Off-the-shelf availability
+ Reproducable mechanical and physical properties
- Long-term biocompability issues (persistent inflammatory reactions, toxic/acid degradation products, not fully integrated in the host tissue)
- Not sufficient mechanical integrity (collapse of scaffolds)
What are the pros and cons of natural polymers?
+ Chemically biocompatible
+ Support cell viability and tissue formation to various degrees
- Potential risk in transmitting animal-originated pathogens
- Difficulty in processing
- Poor load bearing properties
- Variable physical and mechanical properties
What are the structural components of bone tissue?
- Collagen matrix
- Hydroxyapatite crystals
- Hierarchical structure
What are the cellular components of bone?
- Osteoblasts: secrets the substance of bone
- Osteoclasts: a large multinucleate bone cell which absorbs bone tissue during growth and healing.
- Osteocytes: formed when an osteoblast becomes embedded in the material it has secreted.
What are the attractive properties of ceramic biomaterials?
- Dense and hard materials (scratch resistant)
- Ability to be polished to an ultra smooth finish
- Wear resistance and low friction
- Inert/bioactive
What are the limitations of ceramic biomaterials?
- Brittle
- Low tensile and bending strength
- Low fracture strength
- Difficult processing control
Name some applications of ceramic biomaterials:
- Total joint replacements (bearing surfaces)
- Coatings for implant fixation
- Bone filler
- Vehicles for drug delivery
What are the applications for aluminium?
- Total hip replacements (THR)
- Total knee replacements (TKR)
Name an alternative material to aluminia:
Zirconia (ZrO_2)
What advantages do Zirconia have compared to Aluminia?
- Lower young’s modulus
- Lower wear rates (grain size, roughness, residual compressive stresses)
- Increased fracture toughness
Bioactive ceramics: Name two Ca-based cheramics:
- Ca_3 (PO_4)_2, Tricalcium phosphates (TCP)
- Ca_10 (PO_4)_6(OH)_2, Hydroxyapatite (HA, OHAp)
Name some applications of bioactive ceramics:
- Synthetic bone substitutes (bulk)
- Coatings on metallic devices - improved fixation
- Composites with bioglass, polymers
What makes metals unique?
- High stiffness
- High strength (similar in tension/compression)
- High fracture toughness
- Low strength/weight ratio
- Low corrosion resistance
Name some metals used in Biomaterials
- Stainless steels
- Cobalt based alloys
- Titanium (Ti) & its alloys
- Porous Tantalum (Tu)
- Zirconium-Niobium (Zr-Nb)
- (Magnesium)
- (Iron)
() = Degradable metals (under development)
What are the required combination of properties for metallic biomaterials?
- Chemical biocompability
- Corrosion resistance
- Yield and ultimate strength
- (Low) young’s modulus
- Fatique strength
- Ductility
- Wear resistance
- Manufacturing - high quality at low cost
What does osteopenia mean?
Reduction in bone density as a consequence of removal of normal stress from the bone by an implant
Describe the implant associated infection regarding Biofilm:
- Biofilm forms within hours following implantation
- Requires > 1000x normal antiobiotic dose => Impossible to treat by systemic antibiotic therapy
Name some advantages with Porous Tantalum:
- Minimum tissue response
- High density (166 g/cm^3) - good X-ray imaging
- High E-modulus (190 GPa)
- Ability to form it into porous forms
Name applications of Porous Tantalum:
- In clinical use since 1995
- Backing of acetabular cups
- Tibial knee components
- Patella components
- Glenoid fixation
Name some properties about Oxidized zirconium - niobium alloy (Oxinium):
- Zr is a chemically biocompatible metal
- Zr-2.5Nb alloy has improved mechanical properties
- Heating in air at 535 celsius for 3-4 hours => oxide layer of about 5 µm thickness
- Scratch resistant
Name two applications of Oxidized zirconium - niobium alloy (Oxinium):
- Femoral head prostheses
- Femoral knee prostheses
What are the advantages of using Mg alloys as a degradable metallic biomaterial?
- Attractive mechanical properties (better strength than polymers, better fatique than ceramics, closer E to bone than other metallic materials)
- Biodegradable under physiological conditions
- Non-toxic degradation products
- Light weight
Name some unsolved issues with Mg alloys which contributes to it not yet being in clinical use:
- Uncontrolled and high degradation rates
- Biocompability of alloying elements and of degradation products
- Mechanical integrity during biodegradation
What are the possible physiological effects of corrosion?
- Release of magnesium ions, Mg^2+
- Local increase in pH
- Hydrogen evolution
- Too high corrosion rates