According to a recent report in the
Arizona Daily Star, the US military has given a $2 million grant to a University of Arizona (
www.arizona-edu) research team developing bone re-growth technology, with the hope that it could one day help wounded soldiers.
The five-year grant from the Department of Defense will fund the study of regenerating segments of missing bone through a combination of adult stem cells and 3-D printing.
John Szivek — a professor of orthopaedic surgery (and a biomedical engineer) — is leading the group; its members are using a 3-D printer to construct plastic ‘scaffolding’that has grooves and small cavities and a sponge-like structure.
It can be customised for each patient before being ‘seeded’ with the patient’s stem cells and calcium to “expedite the regenerating process”.
Currently, most bone-shattering injuries are helped with a support rod and a cadaver bone, but Mr Szivek says that cadaver bone inevitably cracks and breaks within a couple of years.
Meanwhile, David Margolis, a doctor in orthopaedic surgery working on the project, said: “Most of the options out there leave patients disappointed.
“No method is guaranteed to work, and each one has different risks and benefits.
None gives you back what you had before.”
“So far, the team has tested its methods only on sheep, but the results using 3-D printed scaffolds have been promising.”
Mr Szivek said there was a complete bridging between bone segments within two months.