7. Hybrid ceramic scaffolds
Operations to replace diseased or damaged body parts are becoming increasingly common. In view of this, bone is the most commonly replaced tissue, second only to blood. Autogenous bone is the transplant material of choice for most of these procedures. Unfortunately, autografting is associated with disadvantages, like donor-site morbidity, increased operative time and limited availability. Therefore, also synthetic materials, so-called biomaterials, are used. For bone replacing procedures, bioceramics (Ca-P, CaCO3 and bioglass based materials) are the material of choice because they provide a surface for bone ingrowth (osteoconduction) and bind chemically to the surrounding bone. On the other hand, bioceramics do not function in the same way as autogenous bone. For example, bioceramics do not actively induce bone formation as well as do possess different mechanical properties and degradation behaviour. Consequently, our goal is to develop a synthetic bone graft substitute that functions in the same way as autogenous bone. Therefore, in the current research project we intend to control morphology and polymorph selection for tuning of resorption/desorption rates of bioceramic scaffolds with included bone regeneration stimulating therapeutics using low temperature routes. |