The University of Arizona is engaging in a five-year project that will involve 3D printing bone implants for American veterans. Subject of a $2 million grant from the United States Department of Defense, the study is designed to heal fractures through the use of 3D printed scaffolds and adult stem cells.
Leading the project is Dr. John A. Szivek, who is a biomedical engineer at the College of Medicine in Tucson. He is also a professor. He describes the project as focusing on those fractures where the damage to a bone is so bad that it is impossible to put back together.
University of Arizona – College of Medicine
The team led by Dr. Szivek will be working with clinical partners at the UA Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. His team is hoping they will be able to successfully print scaffolds, which are plastic frames in the shapes of bones, to replace bone segments in veterans.
It is not as simple as adding some plastic to the gaps in a badly damaged bone. They will also be filling the scaffolds with adult stem cells and calcium, which are necessary components to accelerating bone healing and growth.
The team has already completed a few pilot studies, which showed their technique can work. Now it is a matter of conducting different tests to improve the healing process.
Part of the theory is that exercise helps bones grow faster, which means the team will be adding wireless sensors so they can assess the link between increased workload and bone growth.
Military Veterans and Bone Injuries
When the average person thinks about a broken bone, they imagine someone who experienced a terrible fall or had their arm crushed by a heavy object. Any bone break can be painful and devastating, requiring a lengthy healing process.
But many of the bone breaks that are common in everyday life can be healed. Surgery can mend the bone and then time does the rest. The incidents that cause many bone breaks among military veterans are a lot more devastating.
When a bone is damaged because of a rocket, IED or some other incident in the field, it can often be so badly damaged that no surgical technique can put it together. It is why the Department of Defense has bet $2 million on this project.
The implications for the military are huge. And the technique could be useful to any person who suffers an injury so devastating their bone is unable to be mended through existing surgical procedures.
There is also a belief the research that Dr. Szivek and his team is doing will help people who are suffering from bone cancers. It is possible the regrowth and work being done with plastic scaffolds may be able to assist a patient who is in late-stage bone cancer.
While the project is not at the stage of human trials, it is the eventual goal. Dr. Szivek is hopeful that his team will be able to complete testing and other necessary procedures to prove the effectiveness of the technique.
Then it will be a matter of showing off those findings to the military and getting permission for in-person trials on veterans who have suffered serious bone injuries.
3D Printing and Medical Advancement
Doctors, surgeons and researchers are able to push boundaries that were not possible before. It is what Dr. Szivek and his team are attempting to do by regrowing bones that are otherwise too badly damaged to repair.