Making bone replacement material employs laser beam to sinter or melt loose particles, bonding them together into granular unit with controlled porosity

摘要

Using a laser beam loose powder particles (2) are sintered or melted by laser, bonding them to form a bone replacement unit (1) containing powder particles. The bone replacement material is granular. It has a mean diameter of 0.25 mm to 2.00 mm, especially 0.5-2.00 mm. The unit produced, is a reconstruction of a bone defect, and has predetermined size and shape. The geometry is determined from computer tomography data. The laser beam is scanned and controlled to produce this geometry, by sintering or melting layers of the material. Micropores (4) and macropores (5) are formed during scanning, in mean diameter ranges of 0.05-20 mu m and 0.1- 1.5 mm respectively. Overall porosity is 70-80%. The initial material is partially or entirely ceramic. It is calcium phosphate, especially hydroxyl apatite. It is 70-85% hydroxyl apatite and 15-30% beta -tricalcium phosphate. The starting material and bone replacement unit are entirely made of synthetic materials. An independent claim is included for the corresponding bone replacement material.