Connect the bones of the screw made from ... human bones

After about six weeks, the bone-made fasteners will incorporate into the patient's own bones. And after one year of transplantation, it was not even possible to detect traces of X-rays.

Conventional surgical screws are made of titanium or stainless steel along with metal plates. This is a common way to fix a fracture, especially if the bone is broken in the foot or ankle.

But this procedure may have dangerous side effects, for example, the body's immune system tries to remove strange objects that make the patient infected or feel pain. In addition, patients may be allergic to metals, even leading to infections in the bones.

And the worst thing is that these screws often have to be removed after the bones heal. This means that the patient will have to undergo a second righteous surgery on the old wound.

This is why Klaus Pastl, an orthopedic surgeon in Austria, wants to make surgical screws with new materials. After many experiments, he eventually invented a screw made from . human bones. 'Why can't it?' Said Klaus Pastl, the researcher.

A new type of screw called Shark Screw is created from the middle part of the femur. This is the hardest, longest and most stable bone in the human body.

If you choose to donate your body to medicine when you die this donation may also include bone. In fact, donor organs in bone banks have been used in orthopedic procedures, usually transplants.

In collaboration with researchers at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Pastl researchers created unique designed surgical screws made from bone donated by others. .

Fabrication of screws from human bones.(Photo: surgebright)

Although the first attempts to make screws from human bones were made in the mid-90s, Pastl's design is considered to be the first bone-like surgical screws that fully function like bone real person Last year, it was approved by the authorities in Austria and Switzerland and officially put into use.

Unlike metal, these bone screws do not need to be removed after the patient is healed. In fact, after about six weeks, bone fasteners incorporate into the patient's own bones - this greatly reduces the body's ability to excrete or become infected. According to the research team, after one year of transplantation, it was not even possible to detect traces of bone screws when taking X-rays.

Currently, Shark Screw is produced from Pastl's bone tissue collected. But scientists are continuing to research to develop specialized screws for foot and jaw surgery. These are the parts where bone fasteners are particularly useful.

The team is currently investigating the factors that affect bones, especially the bones in the feet and jaw. From there they can customize to match the types of bones suitable for each type of wound. Researcher Gerhard Sommer of TU Graz said: "In general, there is a big difference when using metal screws and screws made from biological materials while treating patients."

" The mechanical principles are basically the same, but we have to consider the phenomenon of bones in screws that will shrink in part during the sterilization process and will restore their initial state and elasticity more after 2 hours of surgery, for this reason, we are investigating and extensively testing bone fasteners in two states: dry and watery , "he added.

Hopefully, the team's experiments will be successful and Scark Screw will be widely used in other parts of the world, because of the great use of this product.