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Slicing and dicing: This illustration shows how a section of bone with a tumor (very top) can be removed (A), leaving a gap in the bone. The periosteum is then cut and peeled back (B), but remains intact. The bone underneath is then moved down (C) to fill the gap, and the periosteum is sutured around the area where the bone was removed.
Cleveland Clinic Center for Medical Art & Photography
The researchers have also created an artificial periosteum sleeve, which they tested in sheep, for bone injuries where there is not enough tissue available. The artificial membrane was seeded with collagen; a mixture of collagen and periosteal cells taken from a particular sheep; or pieces of periosteum from the patient's surrounding bone. The researchers wrapped the sleeve around the injured area and sewed it on like a patch. They found that the sheep given the periosteum alone experienced the fastest repair, with new bone growth two to three weeks after surgery.
The work "combines tissue engineering approaches with surgical intervention and leverages the natural ability for repair," says Elisseeff.
One problem is that stem cells can differentiate into different things like tendons, cartilage, or bone, says Marcus. The researchers showed that the stem cells in the periosteum were coaxed into becoming bone by mechanical stress. For instance, in the sheep experiments, the mechanical cues happen naturally when the sheep shift their weight.
"There are lots of experimental techniques but few clinical methods, and if this has been successful in patients, that is where the real breakthrough will be," says Farshid Guilak, a professor of orthopedic surgery and director of the Orthopaedic Bioengineering Laboratory at Duke University Medical Center.
"This is very important progress," adds Yunzhi Yang, an assistant professor at Houston Biomaterials Research Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.
Knothe Tate says the plan is to license the technology to companies by the end of the year, and says there are a couple of "major players" interested. "We want to provide a cheap alternative that can be widely used in the field," she says.
The new material, which can be injected, molded, and set in place by exposure to light, could benefit people disfigured by disease or injury.
Genetically modified bacteria can produce enough proteins for super-strong spider silk.
I too noted that it is immaterial whether the person is in a wheelchair. That sentence was for the purpose of exciting the reader. I suspect the person is in bed sometimes as well, but that doesn't read quite as well.
Could this method be applicable to regrowing bone in the mouth/jaw lost due to periodontal disease?
The article is clear. Some medical repairs are expensive and iffy. I guess these types of injury need more care than a rib fracture of a seventeen year old in good health. Any incremental advance that improves outcome and saves cost, is good.
After reading through this again, I get a different "take home" message -- for cases where it is necessary to 'harvest' segments of bone to make repairs over THERE, it is possible to PLAN that harvest so that the source location over HERE, where segments are taken FROM, will require minimal repair for an optimal result.
For example: for a repair requiring a segment of two-unit-lengths over THERE, harvest a segment of three-unit-lengths from HERE, and use the extra one-unit-length segment to repair the three-unit-length gap left over HERE.
Seems QUITE reasonable. Would be curious to find out if the resulting repaired segment over HERE is now stronger, etc, as a source for FUTURE (ongoing) repair materials, or if there might be reasons to avoid doing that.
Good to see a new and better technique.
But it's still gonna hurt like hell for the patient just for less time!
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cripdyke
52 Comments
Dumb Smart People
You know, whether it's the people at MIT writing these articles or whether the phrase originated from the doctors conducting the study, smart people can sure be dumb.
While I expect the general public to use self-contradicting metaphors, people at MIT paid to write?
So when I saw that one of the volunteers was "confined to a wheelchair" I thought, what, with a court order? Were they tied down? The whole thought is preposterous. If wheelchairs were instruments of confinement they would be a lot more effective - and a lot cheaper - if they left off the wheels!
Somehow, I suspect that the patient would be more "confined" without the wheelchair than with it.
Ah! Smart people!
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Mapou
357 Comments
Re: Dumb Smart People
Man, you got some serious issues with anal retentiveness. This is an informative and well written article. Be cool.
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dmm
270 Comments
Re: Dumb Smart People
I get your point, but what phrase would you suggest instead? It has to just as pithy as "confined to a wheelchair," a phrase which may be objectionable but which everyone understands.
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cripdyke
52 Comments
Re: Dumb Smart People
I always just say, someone is "a wheelchair user". It's actually shorter/pithier than "confined to a wheelchair," and communicates exactly what is going on. I'm sure other people could also come up with equally clear phrases. I didn't suggest any because my point was not to create a new orthodoxy, just that the old orthodoxy does not make sense - some consider it insulting, but as a writer, I think it is a ridiculous phrase because it says the opposite of the truth.
While colloquialisms among friends are one thing, I would expect someone writing for MIT to take their professional responsibilities to create understandable language seriously. For me, that means you don't say the opposite of what you mean, even if you are employing a commonly used expression. Call me anal retentive if you like, but I find the language not only ridiculous on its face, but it leads to even greater absurdities - I heard a radio show announce that on Dec. 31 last year there were 190k+ veterans confined to a wheelchair. You thought being confined to a wheelchair alone was tough - what about being on the bottom of that pile?!?
I think, perhaps the poster above you failed to see that there's some poor language-smithing going on, but there's also a great deal of humor. Too bad that person missed teh funny.
Reply
flared0ne
395 Comments
Re: Dumb Smart People
I must admit I was expecting to hear about some new technological approach to the process (like "if we harvest some of THIS type of tissue and culture it properly, the resulting membrane can be re-implanted into a temporary structural scaffolding to regrow replacement bone") but I gather we still haven't reached the "culture it properly" stage yet.
What IS here reads somewhat like advances in horticultural grafting technology -- "when you transplant, be sure to get some of this tissue and its ancillary support tissues too." Progress, but still dependent upon individual cases, not universally applicable.
BTW: cripdyke, given your choice from the wide descriptor-space of usernames, I'd say you just might possibly have some issues with wheelchairs and confinement in general. Glad we could provide a venue and play a small part in your performance art.
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