In vitro mechanical strength and in vivo bone ingrowth of a degrading polymeric composite biomaterial

Clinical situations that require techniques to fill defects of bone are common in the surgical care of Orthopaedic patients. There are three options currently available to the surgeon. This paper presents an alternative to these options: a novel, degradable, polymeric composite biomaterial. The biomaterial is sterilizable without loss of its mechanical and biological properties; available to the surgeon in the sterile operating field on short notice; moldable in a way that it can fill irregularly shaped defects; hardenable over a time span of ten to fifteen min; able to provide the reconstructed skeletal region with mechanical properties of the same order of magnitude as the replaced bones; degradable in weeks and replaceable by a new bone; and able to maintain a specified minimum mechanical strength during degradation and bone growth. The material is based on a linear polyester of propylene glycol and fumaric acid.