Glass scaffolds with controlled resorption rates and methods for making same

Abstract

The present invention relates to resorbable glass scaffolds for use in biological applications and methods for making same. Specifically, these scaffolds are composed of phosphate glass fibers, where the rate of dissolution into biological fluids is controlled by the length of time the glass is held above its melt temperature prior to spinning the fiber.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 377,153, filed Feb. 28, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety and which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 772,363 entitled “Glass Scaffolds with Controlled Resorption Rates and Methods for Making Same”, filed on Jan. 30, 2001.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to resorbable glass scaffolds for use in biological applications. Specifically, this invention relates to novel scaffolds, composed of resorbable glass with a tuned rate of resorption, and useful as biological replacements for hard tissue. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Bone grafts in the form of non-woven, woven, braided, or knitted synthetic calcium phosphates (CaP) show potential as a resorbable scaffolding supporting the growth of new bones in applications such as spinal fusion, long bone fractures, non-union fr...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The disadvantages of autograft include the limited supply of excess bone in the patient, as well as the inherent risks of morbidity and recovery pain resulting from a second surgery site.

However, the greater immunogenic response of allograft, and risk of viral contamination or risk of transmission of live virus to the recipient, have led to the decline in use of allograft bone as a bone graft material.

In the vast majority of cases, xenograft fails in its role as a graft material.

If the graft resorbs too rapidly, gaps and / or stress concentrations can result.

If the resorption rate is too slow, the graft may inhibit the formation of new bone.

The disadvantages of using loose particles as a bone graft include the tendency of the particles to either migrate away from the defect site in bodily fluids, or settle (or pack tightly) into the defect.

Particle migration from the site results in possible tissue irritation and undesired tissue response in the regions where the particles eventually settle.

Particle settling results in two issues.

This pore size does not allow the migration and ingrowth of cells into the graft.

Particle settling also results in an inability to control the pore size and distribution in these systems.

Since settling is not controllable, there is no ability to use graft architecture to control new bone growth into the graft.

The size and distribution of pores in these types of grafts are also not controllable.

As with loose particles, there is limited ability to use graft architecture to control new bone growth into the graft.

For bone grafts in the form of cements, there is also a limited ability to control the pore size and distribution.

However, the size and distribution of pores are determined by the size, form, and concentration of the agent, resulting in the inability to use graft architecture to control new bone growth into the graft.

This inability to control pore size and distribution also results in limits in load support capability.

A random distribution of pores results in a random distribution of defects in the structure and associated low load support capability.

Control of the pore size and distribution in porous solid bone grafts is also limited.

Here, the pore size and distribution are limited to that of the species of coral used.

Defect location is also uncontrollable, lowering the load support capability of the graft in fashion similar to that discussed above for cements.

Fast or slow resorption results may inhibit the formation of new bone or create gaps and / or stress concentrations in the native tissue.

The limit of both of these concepts is the difficulty involved in making the number of sizes required to control dissolution rate over a wide range.

The limitation of this approach in the development of bone graft materials with controlled pore size and distribution is that if one desires to have grafts with a number of different dissolution rates, one is required to melt and spin a large number of different material compositions.

Though these concepts are an improvement over the earlier methods of altering the composition of the glass, the range of dissolution rates possible from these teachings is small.