Modified acrylic bone cements with hydroxyapatite for bone implants

Abstract

The dynamic development so characteristic of our modern societies,
has caused an increase in the expectation of mans life. The populations progressive
aging has been accompanied by a remarkable increase of the degenerative articular
disorders that require prosthesis substitution. In the last decades the researches in
the field of biomaterials are led to the search of materials with the appropriate characteristic
for the restoration or substitution of the bone tissue. Among these materials
are the bone cements which have become biomaterials of great use as bone substitutes
in the last years. The study of different chemical formulations, of the physical
and mechanical properties, the effect of possible additive, the biocompatibility
and the biological properties of these cements have as main objective the obtainment
of biomaterials with different applications in the surgical environments, in
which the replacement and bone regeneration are required. In this work, a revision
in the most important aspects in the acrylic bone cements is carried out, as to their
physical, chemical, mechanical properties as well as the most widely used methods
for the preparation of the polymer and the formulations of cements. The clinical
experiences accumulated with different types of acrylic cements, their advantages
and limitations in the fixation of articular endoprosthesis are also discussed as in the
refilling of bone defects and the attempts to improve their biocompatibility by means
of hydroxyapatite (HA) loads. The obtainment of compound materials PMMA-HA
seems to be a feasible road that promises prominent results for the production of new
surgical cements with better properties to be used in the reconstructive surgery of
the bone in general.