BioCer stimulates the formation of new, own bone where the skull bone is damaged.
In the event of an accident or treatment for a brain tumor or bleeding, bone in the skull can be damaged. Fortunately, the broken parts can be replaced by doctors. For example, by a custom-made plastic or metal plate, or by removing a piece of bone from elsewhere in the body and placing it in the skull. Unfortunately, these methods often lead to inflammation.
Swedish scientists therefore have to an alternative approach searched and found in BioCer. This implant repairs the hole in the skull by stimulating the growth of new bone of its own.
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Sheep
BioCer consists of a 3D printed titanium frame that fits exactly into the hole in the skull. A bioceramics material, which mainly consists of the calcium phosphate monetite, adheres to this light and thin frame. In the body, this mineral transforms into apatite, an important part of our bone structure that supports the formation of new cells, the growth of jawbone, bones and teeth.
The Swedish researchers tested their implant on sheep. Not only did the sheep’s body not repel the material, it also turned out to do its job very well. The bioceramics dissolved and over a period of a few months more and more of their own bone appeared where the hole in the skull was once located.
Promising
Not only sheep, but also one human subject underwent the treatment with the 3D printed frame. Also with success. 21 months after application, the implant was found to have given way to a tissue with a structure that could hardly be distinguished from natural cranial bone.
Of course, one test subject is nowhere near enough to actually apply the technique to hospital patients. But admittedly, it all sounds very promising.
Image: The magazine PNAS
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