Spinous Metal Granule for Bone Defect Filling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current treatments for articular cartilage defects on the femoral head, such as hip replacement surgery, face limitations due to the scarcity and high cost of autogenous and allogeneic bone sources, and the inability of traditional metal supports to fully fill defects, leading to suboptimal treatment outcomes.
Innovation Solution
A spinous metal granule with a urchin or dendrite structure, made from medical metals like titanium or cobalt alloys, is designed to be mixed with autogenous or allogeneic bone granules and paste to fill bone defects, providing initial stabilization through embedded spines and promoting bone growth with hydroxyapatite coatings and interconnected pores for enhanced integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional metal supports are used to fill bone defects, then the cartilage can be supported, but the defect cavity cannot be fully filled due to thickness and diameter limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the filling material into multiple small granules (0.5-5mm diameter) with spinous structures. These granules can be densely packed to fully fill the defect cavity, unlike single large metal supports that are constrained by anatomical dimensions. The segmented granule approach allows complete volume occupation while maintaining structural support functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The spinous granules are designed to nest within the defect cavity, with their spines interlocking and embedding into surrounding bone tissue. This nested arrangement maximizes the filling volume within the constrained anatomical space while providing mechanical support through the interlocking spine structures.
2Volume of moving object
If autogenous or allogeneic bone is used for filling, then the bone defect can be filled, but the treatment is limited by limited sources and high cost
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces expensive and limited autogenous/allogeneic bone materials with inexpensive metal granules that can be mass-produced. These metal granules serve as permanent implants, eliminating the need for harvested bone while providing equivalent or superior structural support and biological integration capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the material parameter from organic bone tissue to inorganic metal materials, fundamentally altering the source, availability, and cost characteristics while maintaining or improving the functional properties of defect filling and structural support.
3Ease of manufacture
If metal granules without spinous structure are used, then the filling is simple, but the initial stabilization and integration with surrounding bone tissue is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The metal granules feature asymmetric spinous protrusions extending from their surfaces. These spines create directional interlocking mechanisms that engage with surrounding bone tissue, providing reliable initial stabilization and preventing granule displacement. The asymmetric geometry enhances mechanical integration without significantly complicating the manufacturing process.
4Strength
If dense metal granules without pores are used, then the structural strength is high, but the bone cell and capillary growth is inhibited
Solution Approach 1:
The metal granules incorporate interconnected porous structures with controlled pore sizes (50-900 microns) that allow bone cells and capillaries to infiltrate and grow into the granule interior. This porous architecture maintains sufficient structural strength while enabling biological integration, creating a scaffold that supports both mechanical loading and tissue regeneration.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The spinous metal granule effectively supports the cartilage, reduces the need for extensive autogenous or allogeneic bone, and enhances bone repair by facilitating bone cell and capillary growth, leading to a stable and biologically active bone repairing body, thus delaying or preventing hip replacement surgery.
Implementation Method 1
Due to its own strength and the embedded inosculation between its external spines and the surrounding bone tissues, the spinous metal granule can play an initial stabilizing role on the implanted fillers to support the depressed part of the cartilage
Implementation Method 2
bone cells and capillaries crawl and grow in along with the bone, bone granule, bone paste and the like of the autogenous bone or the allogeneic bone implanted by being stirred and mixed with the spinous metal granule, to finally form a fusion embedded active bone repairing body
Data Source
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AI summary
A spinous metal granule (1) is provided. The outline of the spinous metal granule (1) is spherical, cylindrical or polyhedral and is 2 to 15mm in size and the spinous metal granule (1) is provided with spinous structure (2) like a urchin or dentrite. When in use, an appropriate number of spinous metal granules (1) of appropriate size and shape are selected by a doctor to be mixed and stirred with the autogenous or allogeneic broken bone granule and bone paste (3) of a patient to form a mixed filler, which is filled in the bone defect and is pressed and tamped to be initially stabilized. In the recovery process after an operation, the surrounding sclerotins and the bone paste (3) and broken granules surrounding the spinous metal granule (1) are fused to grow into a whole to form a relatively stable and biologically active support structure. Meanwhile, such support structure can further stimulate the surrounding blood supply to promote the repairing of the damaged cartilage.