Researchers in the UK are conducting the first clinical trials in the world where they are drilling prosthetics right into the bone, instead of moulded and strapped into place.
Right now, if a patient needs a prosthetic limb fitted, one will be made with a cup-shaped end that will be moulded to the base of their arm or leg and strapped on. It’s not elegant, or secure, or comfortable. But now a team of biomedical engineers at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in London has just completed the first clinical trials of a new technique that has prosthetics drilled straight into the bone.
Named ITAP (Intraosseous Transcutaneous Amputation Prostheses), this technique grafts a little anchor directly onto the bone. The major problem with this technique though, is that this foreign body, which protrudes of the skin, has a high risk of getting infected. So the team looked at deer antlers, of all things, to find a solution.
Chris Higgins at Wired explains:
“Usually, any sustained breach of the skin barrier will allow foreign bodies through to invade. Antlers are specialised bone structures that transition from the skull into external features through the skin, but do not cause any adverse effects. The key to their organic survival is tiny, porous holes in the antler bone, allowing skin to grow into it and tightly infuse with the transdermal object, creating a barrier.”
With this in mind, the team at the hospital created a porous metal anchor that can be used to attach an array of specialised prosthetic limbs directly to the bone. The initial pain of having metal drilled into the bone will be offset by the increased comfort of the better-attached limb. According to Higgins, the 20 patients who took part in the clinical trial reported a better quality of life, some even describing it as “life-changing”.
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