Implants & Prosthetics

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Medical device design presents specific challenges for finite element analysis (FEA) engineers, who are tasked with simulating the mechanical behavior of medical devices or their components under a variety of conditions. These simulations help designers optimize the device and/or its component design prior to prototyping and physical testing.
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Medical technology is currently capable of treating such physical hardships as loss of limb, eyelid paralysis, and chronic osteoarthritis – but researchers are continually finding ways to improve upon the effectiveness of these and other implanted and prosthetic device technologies. What follows is a sample of new technologies and research efforts that hold promise for a future in which human beings are able not just to survive, but thrive in the face of any conceivable physical difficulty.
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Langley Research Center’s Soluble Imide (LaRC-SI) was discovered by accident. While researching resins and adhesives for advanced composites for high-speed aircraft, Robert Bryant, a Langley engineer, noticed that one of the polymers he was working with did not behave as predicted. After putting the compound through a two-stage controlled chemical reaction, expecting it to precipitate as a powder after the second stage, he was surprised to see that the compound remained soluble. This novel characteristic ended up making this polymer a very significant finding, eventually leading Bryant and his team to win several NASA technology awards, and an “R&D 100” award.
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This material exhibits an osteogenesis-promoting effect without toxicity, making it suitable as a surgical implant.

A ceramic body consisting of the phases of tricalcium phosphate and/or hydroxyapatite provides biocompatibility with hard tissues. When such a ceramic body is implanted in a bone, direct connection is formed between the bone and the ceramic body without intervention of any fibrous connective tissues. This zinc-containing or zinc-doped ceramic material mainly consists of tricalcium phosphate and is suitable as a ceramic material for biomedical use. In particular, the material provides surgical implant materials for hard tissue consisting of zinc-doped tricalcium phosphate to promote bone formation by releasing zinc in the body.

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A new class of prosthetic devices looks, feels, and functions like natural limbs.

Advances in body armor and life-saving technology have increased survival rates of severely injured military personnel. Unfortunately, the survivors of improvised explosive devices are often left with amputations and/or spinal cord injuries. The increase in amputations and paralysis among military personnel requires significant advances in prosthetics and functional electrical stimulation (FES) systems so that the soldiers can return to the field or to productive civilian lives.

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This implantable device technology improves long-term functional recovery after a traumatic brain injury.

It has been demonstrated that after a stroke-like lesion in the cerebral cortex of non-human primates, the remaining intact tissue undergoes extensive neuro-physiological and neuroanatomical remodeling. The ability of cortical areas remote from the infarct to form new cortico-cortical connections over long distances between the frontal and parietal lobes has been demonstrated. It is likely that these novel connections play a role in functional recovery after cortical injury.
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A modified titanium construct and specially machined surface increase adherence of tissue to a prosthetic limb.

Because of its high mechanical properties, chemical stability, and biocompatibility, titanium is a commonly used material in dental and orthopedic applications. Its excellent biocompatibility allows titanium implants to be directly anchored to bone, or osseo-integrated. The conventional prosthetic replacement in amputees is a stump-socket design, which transfers forces through the prosthetic to an external contact point on the patient. Such a design results in non-uniform distribution of pressure, and can lead to pain, infection, and necrosis of the soft tissues at the point of contact.

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