Accident victims who end up with damaged skull are usually fitted with titanium plate or bone taken from another part of body. Replacement bone must be taken from patient's hip which requires a painful operation. Soon they will have the option of being treated with a biodegradeable plastic plug that fits neatly into the hole and allows bone to regenerate and the hair to grow back. Instead of using titanium plates and replacement bone , this new plastic called Mesh almost half the price of titatnium and doesnt carry the risk of infection can be used . It allows patients to regain a natural look and feel as the materical fusses with patient's head.
The basic materical is Polycaprolactone (PCL) polymer which is used as a structure in which cells can grow. PCL is bio-reabsorbable meaning it can be digested by the body and disposed without a trace.
Six Engineers and a doctor from National University of Singapore and the National University Hospital in collaboration with the city's Temasek Polytechnic S.H. Teoh , T.C Lim , D.W. Hutmacher , Schantz , N. Chou and K.C.Tan have won the Gold in this year's Asian Innovation Awards. Soon they will be seeking a way if the mesh can help to grow bone and other tissues around the eye socket , jaw , spine , chest and legs.
This marks a great achievement in the history of Tissue Engineering which aims to restore tissue and organ functions with minimal host rejection. With all 13 patients who so far have been fitted this way, the plug integrated into the skull bone and new bone grew back over the holes so that there was no depression, or any other sign of drilling. The plug is also economical . It will cost only 600$ (singapore) compared to 1000$ for the best titanium plates. So strong selling point is affordability.
Credits : Economic Review Magazine
