Health Headlines: New way to repair broken bones

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Broken bones or fractures are common in childhood, with up to 40 percent of girls and as many as 50 percent of boys suffering a fracture. Forearm fractures are the most common, responsible for up to 50 percent of all fractures in children. Now a University of Central Florida researcher has come up with a new way to fix those fractures in surgery with unique material.

They play hard, and they fall harder. Fractures are a common injury in young children. Traditional surgery to repair the fracture involves implanting metal into the bone and after the bone heals, another surgery is required to remove the implants. But there may be a better way.

University of Central Florida Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Mehdi Razavi explains, “We think that there is a better way that you can heal bone damages using bioabsorbable implants, that you can implant them into the bone defect and they get degraded over the time.”

Preventing young children from needing multiple surgeries. The new implant is made of a magnesium composite and is infused with nanoparticles that help regenerate new bone, making the healing process quicker, too.

“It can be a significant improvement for patients, improving quality of life of patient, saving healthcare cost,” Professor Razavi adds.

Professor Razavi says the only risk of the new implant being made of magnesium is the biodegradation rate, which is high. it could result in producing hydrogen bubbles, which could have damaging effects around the muscle tissue.

Contributors to this news report include Adahlia Thomas, Associate Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer & Editor.

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