• Question: if you were to make a bone implant with metal and apply it, wouldn't you need to keep checking it up?

    Asked by 652heab48 to Urvashi on 7 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Urvashi Danookdharree

      Urvashi Danookdharree answered on 7 Mar 2015:

      There are different kind of implants ranging from a small screw to a complete bone part. Depending on the location of the specific implants follow-ups are necessary especially at the beginning as most complications are prone to happen mostly not too long after the implant. However, in case of symptoms related to complications, the patient need to seek medical help at any time. Also, with new development in this field, metal implants can be made in such a way that materials similar to bone can be made to form on the surface of the metal as such mimicking the bone and making it difficult for the body to reject the implant.

      I hope this helps. Further questions are more welcomed.

Comments

  • Photo: Naomi

    Naomi commented on :

    I just spotted this question and I hope you don’t mind me adding something which is related to my research. I design joint replacements, in the case of a hip replacement for example they are effectively a ball and socket joint which means you have two surfaces which are continuously rubbing together. Over time those surfaces wear which means tiny bits of material break off from the surface and enter the fluid and tissues around the joint. When I say tiny I mean smaller than the width of one of your hairs! The body then “sees” these tiny particles and realises they shouldn’t be there so it attacks it to try and kill it, like it would a virus or a bacteria. Only what happens is that it ends up attacking itself so nearby bones get tiny holes in them and the implants can become loose. After 10-15 years most hip implants have to be removed and replaced with a new one. There has recently been a major worldwide problem with the use of metals in hip replacements where they were using a metal ball and a metal socket, so metal rubbing on metal. In some designs the number of wear particles coming off the implant was very high and people’s tissues were badly affected. They had to have their implants changed after one a few years. So now all patient with these types of hips have to yearly blood tests to ensure they are OK. This affected hundreds of thousands of people around the world so engineers and surgeons do not always get it right despite years of testing and trials