I-Corps: Improving Performance of Osteochondral Grafts for Cartilage Repair

膝盖和其他关节的损伤通常会导致关节缓冲软骨组织的损伤和缺陷，以及明显的疼痛，减少患者的活动。传统的手术治疗软骨损伤不能为患者提供长期有效的结果。这意味着在最初的治疗之后，将需要后续更积极的手术。最近，用同种异体骨软骨移植治疗骨缺损的模式发生了转变。由新鲜尸体捐献的软骨和骨组织塞。这项技术令人兴奋，因为一旦移植物愈合，它就有能力恢复病人的软骨结构，并提供机械稳定性。虽然与其他治疗方法相比，这种方法成功率很高，但也有一些局限性。一个是偶尔的临床失败，骨软骨移植不能在骨区正常愈合。另一个原因是组织库的移植物由于保质期短，供应有限。为了提高这些移植物的成功率和供应，这个I-Corps团队的目标是实施一种清洁技术，以加强骨修复和延长保质期。最终，这些改进将通过改善移植物整合和增加患者的手术机会来改善患者的生活质量。此外，组织库将能够通过延长保质期来延长供应，从而增加收入。I-Corps团队正在开发一种生物惰性清洁程序，该程序将允许从同种异体骨软骨移植物中去除生物抑制剂，而不会对软骨造成损害。这项技术建立在目前供体组织库程序的基础上，可以添加到目前的储存过程中，在移植物分配到医院之前。该团队计划在I-Corps项目中与整形外科医生、同种异体组织库、患者和其他利益相关者进行客户访谈。在I-Corps项目期间，该团队将评估商业可行性。如果证明了这一点，下一步的开发将进一步证明技术性能并推进商业化计划。在整个开发阶段，团队将继续从最终用户和客户那里获得反馈，以验证该技术满足市场需求并证明商业可行性。

Injuries to knees and other joints often cause damage and defects in the cartilage tissue cushioning joints, and significant pain, decreasing patient activity. Traditional surgical treatments for cartilage damage are not able to provide patients with long-term effective outcomes. This means that subsequent more aggressive surgeries will be required following the original treatment. More recently, there has been a paradigm shift to treat defects with an osteochondral allograft ? a plug of cartilage and bone tissue that is donated by a fresh cadaver. This technique is exciting because, once the graft is healed, it has the ability to restore the patient's cartilage structure and provide mechanical stability. Although this procedure has high success compared to alternative treatments, there are several limitations. One is occasional clinical failures where the osteochondral allograft does not heal properly in the bone region. The other is the limited supply of the grafts from tissue banks due to their short shelf-life. To improve the success and supply of these grafts, this I-Corps team aims to implement a cleansing technology to enhance bone repair and to increase shelf-life. Ultimately, these improvements will improve patient quality of life by improving graft integration and increasing patient access to the procedure. Additionally, tissue banks will be able to extend their supply through increased shelf-life, leading to increased revenue.This I-Corps team is developing a bioinert cleansing procedure that will allow for the removal of biological inhibitors from osteochondral allografts without causing damage to the cartilage. This technology builds upon current donor tissue bank procedures and can be added to the current storage process, prior to graft distribution to hospitals. The team plans to conduct customer interviews with orthopaedic surgeons, allograft tissue banks, patients, and other stakeholders throughout the I-Corps program. During the I-Corps program, the team will assess commercial viability. If this is demonstrated, the next steps of development will further demonstrate technology performance and move forward with a commercialization plan. Throughout the development phases, the team will continue to obtain feedback from end-users and customers to validate that the technology meets the market need and demonstrates commercial viability.