SBIR Phase I: Bioactive, High-Strength Contrast Agents for Orthopedic and Bone Applications

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop bioactive, high-strength contrast agents for use in orthopedic and bone implant applications. There is a clear clinical need for improved contrast agents that increase the strength, toughness and abrasion wear of bone-void fillers, improve its biocompatibility and ability to promote the growth of healthy bone at the bone/filler interface. The innovation addresses the current shortcomings and aims to produce contrast agents that improve the mechanical properties, fatigue life, wear abrasion, and bio-compatibility with living bone. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to increase the success rate of total joint replacement surgeries, increase the implant lifetime and reduce the rates of revision surgeries. Surgeries involving hip and knee replacements (and other surgeries utilizing bone-void fillers) are rapidly increasing world-wide, and the trend toward performing these surgeries on a younger patient population, who will more likely require replacement surgeries, portends a massive increase in their incidence in the coming decades.