A. Khan, M. Vaughan, A. Haleem, H. Alizereej, A. Moussa, M. Khandaker
University of Central Oklahoma,
United States
Keywords: long bone defect, bioabsorbable material, 3D printing, implant
Summary:
The clinical treatment of long bone segmental defects is a global challenge due to issues associated with the current gold standard treatment of autologous bone grafting with metallic intramedullary nail systems. While bone tissue engineering offers promise, research is required to address scaffold design and animal studies. This study aims to develop bioresorbable bone substitutes with cortical bone strength and osteoinductive properties. Our specific aim was to assess the effectivity of 3D-printed PCL-based bone scaffolds and intramedullary nail for ex vivo and in vivo using a rabbit tibia model. Our rabbit cadaver study confirms that our manufactured targeting jig has the potential to accurately implant our developed bone scaffold and intramedullary nail and line up the screws for a rabbit tibial large bone defect repair. The most significant challenge was delivering the nail due to their small size and mechanical strength. Higher mechanical stability was achieved for the purpose of higher weight-bearing capability and matching the scaffold and nail compressive and shear strength 200 MPa and 130 MPa with the same cortical bone. We are currently doing in vivo study to match the mechanical stability of our designed systems while enhancing osteogenic capability with BMSCs and PCL-based bone scaffolds using rabbit model.