Bioactive Glass Scaffold (small rectangular section)

When you break a bone in your body, the bone is only able to repair itself effectively if all the original material is present and a good contact can be forged between the fragments. This small rectangular sample of bioactive glass scaffold is designed to help in situations when these conditions are not met. It sits between fragments of bone in place of missing material. However, the glass doesn’t replace the bone fragment permanently, it acts as a bridge for natural bone growth. As the bone grows it consumes the scaffold, eventually leading to a perfectly fused join. The scaffold is porous, so it contains an interconnected network of pores so that cells, blood vessels and new bone can penetrate into the material.

Materially, the scaffold has to possess a number of important characteristics. It needs to be biocompatible so the body doesn’t reject it, it needs to be bioactive so it will fuse to existing bone, it needs to withstand the same loads as the surrounding bone, and it must degrade as new bone grows through it.