Using composite materials to replace bone

Abstract

In this podcast, Professor Chris Rudd, Dean of the faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham, describes his work with composite materials in the car industry and how it can be applied to the field of medicine.

Traditionally, patients who have lost bone in an accident or have had bone removed due to cancer have had to endure two very long and very painful operations. One operation to attach steel plates to the bone, and a second operation once the bone has healed, to remove them.

For the past ten years, Professor Rudd and his team have been researching degradable polymers that would be as strong as the steel plates, but could be absorbed by the body, thus eliminating the need for secondary surgery.