Experts invent a breakthrough material to mend fractures

London, December 8: In a major breakthrough, scientists have come out with a new substance that can work like a glue to fix the fractures.

Researchers from Nottingham University said that they have developed a toothpaste-like substance that can be injected into the site of a fracture to help the healing process.

This liquid material, which is intended for injection into broken bones to speed up the recovery process of fractures, forms a biodegradable scaffold over which the body's own bone grows, the experts have explained.

The substance, which has the texture of toothpaste at room temperature, can be simply injected to the affected body part without a surgical incision, and the body temperature is adequate to trigger the hardening reaction, said the researchers.

They hope the material will overcome the need for painful bone grafts, which use bone taken from another part of the patient's body, such as the hip, to plug a damaged gap, in many cases.

The new injectable material’s advantage over traditional bone cements is that unlike the conventional bone cements, it does not give off extra heat and kill surrounding cells during the hardening process and therefore can be used nearly anywhere.

"Not only does the patient need to be opened up, he or she is left with a damaged area - using this would avoid that,” said Professor Kevin Shakesheff, from the University of Nottingham, who has invented the "injectable bone" that won a prestigious medical innovation award last week.

He continued: "We believe we can just insert the needle, follow it to the right spot and inject the polymer, which will fill the desired area, and set as hard as the bone on either side. Because the material does not heat up, surrounding bone cells survive and can grow."

The experts are now working to start clinical trials in the United Kingdom, and expect the new product could be available in the United States some time in 2010.

To help develop and market the “injectable bone,” Prof. Shakesheff has created a biotechnology firm where he along with other experts will work to prove its safety so that it can be used in hospitals.

Other scientists have welcomed the invention. Mr. Andy Goldberg, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford, and a co-founder of the Medical Futures awards, which honored the invention last week, said: "This technology has fantastic potential. As an orthopaedic surgeon, being able to work with a substance that is flexible, as opposed to using hard bone will make a real difference. The fact that it doesn't heat up when in the body, like many other injectable substances, is a significant breakthrough."

Another expert in musculoskeletal science, Professor Richard Oreffo of the University of Southampton, said that the material had potential.

"As I understand it, the advantage it has is that the patient's own cells and growth factors can be delivered with it, and because everything happens at room temperature, they are delivered intact to the patient," he said.