Orhun Muratoglu, co-director of MGH's Orthopedic Biomechanics Lab, has helped develop a new, more durable material for making replacement joints. Staff photo Jon Chase/Harvard News Office |
Man-made medical mystery gets second solutionMGH researchers develop new material to ward off implant bone lossAugust 20, 2007By Alvin Powell
Researchers have created a new material that they believe improves on an eight-year-old solution to a decades-long medical mystery over the cause of widespread artificial joint failure. The new material, developed at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and implanted for the first time July 19, could help fill the demand for higher-performance joints from a new generation of patients. "If you're a marathon runner, an iron man, or an [active] baby boomer, those people need really, really strong implants. These patients used to be the outliers, now they're moving towards the center of the distribution," said Orhun Muratoglu, associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and head of MGH's Orthopaedics Biomechanics and Biomaterials Laboratory. "Expectations are totally different now." |
