Presenting the 'Artificial Bone' Perfectly Suited to Your Body

Development of 'Bone Defect and Disease Convergence Treatment Technology'

#Prologue> Background of Technology Development

Mr. Luser, who lived a life feeling inferior due to his short height.

Mr. Dosago, who suffered a fracture in an unexpected accident.

Miss Na So-oe, who has been suffering from limb deformities.

The reason they were able to smile again and return to society was thanks to advanced modern medicine like Ilizarov.

Ilizarov works by cutting the healthy bone near the problematic bone, firmly fixing it with an external fixation device, and then gradually increasing it by 1mm per day to slowly create new bone. It is widely used to treat musculoskeletal rare and intractable diseases, as well as bone-related losses and diseases.

However, it takes about 30 days for 1cm to grow normally, requiring considerable patience, and there are also problems such as reoperation due to the failure of artificial bone fixation transplanted to promote bone formation, and additional antibiotic administration due to bacterial infection.

#Technology Introduction> Korea University Medical Center's Artificial Bone Development

Accordingly, Korea University Medical Center intends to apply the 'Bone Fracture Package', which integrates all methods necessary for complete cure, including muscle, skin, artificial bone, external fixation device, and bone growth factors, to the medical field for bone defects and diseases.

In particular, it is accelerating research and development of artificial bone manufacturing technology, which can be said to be the core of treatment.

Korea University Medical Center's unique artificial bone manufacturing technology, named 'Manufacturing Technology of Antibiotic and Bone Formation Promoting Substance-Releasing Implants or Scaffolds with Bone Fusion Enhancement and Antibacterial Efficacy', aims to reduce the implant failure rate due to bacteria and shorten the treatment time by promoting bone formation.

#Technology Introduction> Comparison with Existing Technologies

Existing bone cement (Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)) had disadvantages such as difficulty in controlling antibiotic release and secondary surgery for removal, and autologous bone graft had risks of complications such as post-operative pain and infection because bone tissue was obtained from one's own body, and allogeneic bone graft such as bones from dead people often required reoperation due to poor bone regeneration ability.

Korea University Medical Center's artificial bone manufacturing technology compensates for the shortcomings of existing artificial bones by sequentially immobilizing antibiotics and bone formation promoting growth factor BMP-2 on the dopamine and heparin-treated titanium metal surface.

Therefore, since antibiotics are continuously released for a long period of time, it prevents bacterial infection that may occur during or after the implantation process, significantly reducing the implant failure rate, and eliminating the inconvenience of taking additional antibiotics.

In addition, BMP-2, which promotes bone fusion and bone formation, is continuously released for a long period of time, improving bone formation function by promoting attachment between artificial bone and bone tissue and differentiation of osteoblasts, thereby shortening the treatment period by more than 10 days.

Above all, artificial bones can be manufactured to perfectly fit the defects of each patient, increasing the success rate of implantation and reducing the economic burden caused by reoperation.

Methods using 3D bio-printing technology for mass production of such artificial bones, methods using stem cells, and artificial bone surface coating technology are also being actively pursued.

#Technology Outlook> Pioneering the Blue Ocean

The BMP-2 market, currently led by the United States, is creating enormous economic value, with a scale of 1 trillion won in the United States alone, and the artificial bone market is expected to grow to an enormous scale as the population ages worldwide and the number of patients with bone defects and diseases increases.

At this time, Korea University Medical Center's excellent technology of 'Bone Fracture Package', a convergence treatment method for bone defects and diseases, will become the main player in pioneering the blue ocean and the Korean Wave in the medical market.