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Every year, millions of people contend with lower back and neckdiscomfort. With intent to ease their pain, Cornell Universityengineers in Ithaca and doctors at the Weill Cornell MedicalCollege in New York City have created a biologically based spinalimplant that could someday spell relief for these countlesssufferers. Lawrence Bonassar, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedicalengineering and mechanical engineering, and Roger H rtl, M.D.,associate professor of neurosurgery at Weill Cornell MedicalCollege and chief of spinal surgery at NewYork-PresbyterianHospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, have created bioengineeredspinal discs that have been successfully implanted and tested inanimals. The other scientists on the paper are Robby Bowles, Cornell Ph.D.'11, and Harry Gebhard, M.D., of Weill Cornell Medical College. Their research will be published online Aug. 1, 2011 in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We've engineered discs that have the same structural componentsand behave just like real discs," says Bonassar. "The hope is thatthis promising research will lead to engineered discs that we canimplant into patients with damaged discs." Each year, 40 percent to 60 percent of American adults suffer fromchronic back or neck pain. For patients diagnosed with severedegenerative disc disease, or herniated discs , neurosurgeons perform surgery called discectomy removing thespinal disc followed by a fusion of the vertebrate bones tostabilize the spine. In spite of the surgery, the patient's backwill likely not feel the same as before their injury. "The surgery prevents pain, but often limits mobility, which mayhinder someone who has an active lifestyle or even end the careerof a professional athlete," says H rtl, who is also the teamneurosurgeon for the New York Giants. Human discs look something like a tire, with the outer part, calledthe annulus, made of a stiff material, and the inner circle, thenucleus, made of a gel-like substance that gets pressurized andbears weight. Bonassar's lab, which focuses on the regeneration and analysis ofmusculoskeletal tissue, engineered artificial discs out of twopolymers collagen, which wraps around the outside, and a hydrogelcalled alginate in the middle. They seeded the implants with cellsthat repopulate the structures with new tissue. Remarkably, asopposed to artificial implants today that degrade over time, thescientists are seeing that the implants get better as they maturein the body, due to the growth of the cells. "Our implants have maintained 70 to 80 percent of initial discheight. In fact, the mechanical properties get better with time,"says Bonassar. The implants would treat a broad category of illness calleddegenerative disc disease a leading cause of disability worldwide.According to H rtl, an increasing number of patients needtreatment or surgery from the degeneration of the intervertebraldisc. A surgical procedure approved by the FDA in 2005 involvesremoving the disc completely and replacing it with an implant madeof a combination of metal and plastic, with the aim of mimickingthe normal movement of the lumbar and spine. "Bone or metal or plastic implants are complicated structures whichcome with a mechanical risk of the structures moving around, ordebris from the metal or plastic particles accumulating in the bodyfrom wear and tear," says H rtl. From a biological perspective, the new discs could create a "hugeadvantage" over traditional implants because of how they integrateand mature with the vertebrae. This major surgery would become lessinvasive, safer and come with fewer long-term side effects, hesays. Source: Cornell University Additional References Citations. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as High Temperature Alloy Casting , China Titanium Pipe Fittings for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Titanium Rod Bar.
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