Bone health gets a titanium boost

The German medical device company InnoTERE has announced an innovative approach to mending fractured bones using titanium foam-enhanced implants. Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing and Advanced Materials in Dresden, they've created a futuristic titanium foam with the potential to vastly improve the health and function of fractured bones.

The robustness of healthy bones tends to respond to the load that they bear: The heavier the load, the more bone material grows to support those loads. Problems arise when conditions such as osteoporosis lead to brittle bones, or fractures in load-bearing bones are assisted with implants, a titanium plate for example. While screws may hold a plate in place, the optimal solution is for bone growth to fuse both the fractured bone, and any supporting material. Without adequate bone in-growth, implants wont fuse securely, and may loosen and require replacement. In cases where a device is exceptionally supportive, bone health may suffer from a lack of regeneration since it's no longer bearing weight.

Enter the titanium foam, or Tifoam, pictured on the left. In addition to having the right combination of strength, durability and flexibility, the foam matrix encourages bone in-growth into the metallic material. In fact, the titanium structures closely resemble the microscopic spongy-structure of healthy bone itself. These technological health innovations may overcome many of the shortcomings of previous implant technologies.

Photo credit: Fraunhofer IFAM