Internal Prosthetic Replacement of Skeletal Segments Lost in Combat Related Injuries

摘要

Segmented prosthetic replacements for the tibia, femur, humerus of adult baboons were successfully employed in studies involving times from a few weeks to several years. These devices utilized porous titanium composite in association with load-bearing components to replace large bone defects artificially created. The objective was to evaluate the potential for bone ingrowth into the porosity to provide fixation and ultimately to invest the prosthetic device in a load-bearing system involving the residual bone extremities. Clinical studies of the long bone reconstructions are presented. The prosthetic devices were designed and produced for this research program. There were corollary studies on the biocompatibility of titanium and other metals used for load-bearing implantible devices.