Competency: 36

Details

Manufacture medical implants for patients requiring titanium cranioplasty (surgical repair of a defect or deformity of a skull).

Considerations

• Repair of defects using the patient’s own skin and bone, autogenous reconstruction.
• The advantages and disadvantages of both autogenous (own skin) or alloplastic (non human) materials.

Deep-Buried Implants

• Physiological and immunological responses to alloplastic implants.
• Cellular response to implants, systemic effects of implants.
• Blood compatibility, non-thrombogenic surfaces.
• Testing of carcinogenicity, risk assessment.

Metallic Implant Materials

• Titanium and titanium-based alloys.
• Types and composition.
• Structure and properties.
• Implant manufacture with titanium and titanium-based alloys.

Ceramic Implant Materials

• Calcium phosphate, structure, properties of hydroxyapatite.
• Manufacturing of hydroxyapatite.

Polymeric Implant Materials

• Polymeric implant materials, rubbers.
• Deterioration of polymers, chemical effects, sterilisation effects, mechano-chemical effects, in vivo environmental effects, stability and toxicity.

Failure of Materials

• Behaviour of materials when stressed.
• Different ways in which materials can fail (wear, fatigue, degradation by corrosion).
• Corrosion of metallic implants.
• Electrochemical aspects.
• Pourbaix diagrams in corrosion.
• Rates of corrosion and polarisation curves.
• Corrosion of available metals.
• Minimisation of corrosion.
• Relationship of failure to the macro and microstructure of a material.
• Role of defects in metals and the effect on an appliance.

Soft Tissue Replacement

• Percutaneous devices.
• Maxillofacial implants.
• Ear and eye implants.
• Space-filling implants.

New Developments in Biomedical Materials and Manufacturing

• Surface coatings of implant materials, e.g. plasma coatings, hydroxyapetite coatings.
• Physical and vapour deposition of thin films.
• Evaluation of chemical and mechanical properties of new materials and their application.
• Principles of tissue engineering and stem cell research and its application to hard and soft tissue reconstruction.
• 3D printing of substrate structures, materials for scaffolds
• Hard tissue growth, soft tissue growth.
• Comparisons with alloplastic materials and manufacture.
• 3D printing of metallic implants, laser sintering.

Relevant learning outcomes