Polymer Graph

Surgeons who remove spinal tumors or crushed vertebrae have to fill the gap left behind. Metal cages and titanium rods have been used in the past, but researchers at the Mayo Clinic have developed a dehydrated polymer that, once implanted, absorbs body fluids to expand in place. Quoting directly: “A biocompatible polymer, oligo[poly(ethylene glycol) fumarate] was crosslinked to create a hollow hydrophilic cage—the scaffold of the graft—which could then be filled with stabilizing materials and therapeutics. The researchers focused on controlling the site of the graft and the kinetics of the expansion. That’s because if the cage expands too quickly, a surgeon may not have enough time to position it correctly. A slow expansion, meanwhile, could mean a longer-than-necessary surgery. Modifying the degree and timing of the polymer graft’s expansion was a matter of chemistry, and entailed modulating the molecular weight and charge of the polymer.”     MORE

Image Credit: American Cancer Society and Insights.Globalspec.com