First artificial bone could save millions

BRITISH scientists have developed the world's first artificial bone that knits with real bone to form a perfect joint. The breakthrough could save the NHS millions of pounds a year in hip and knee operations that fail, writes Steve Connor.

Medical researchers, led by Professor William Bonfield at the Queen Mary and Westfield College in London, have transplanted the bone into 30 patients and found it bonds perfectly to human tissue.

Existing materials used in hip and knee replacements - such as stainless steel - begin to slip away from the cement anchoring them to human bone within a few years. This eventually leads to a failure of the artificial joint and the need to repeat the operation, often many times.

Professor Bonfield said yesterday that the artificial bone holds out the prospect of implanting artificial hip and knee joints that last for 30 years or more instead of the few years achieved now.

The NHS carries out about 40,000 hip operations a year, each costing about pounds 5,000, and about one in three is on people whose artificial joints have failed at least once already. 'Any improvement in the lifetime of a device will have an enormous benefit,' Professor Bonfield said.

A person over 65 can expect an artificial joint to last no more than about 10 years. For younger people, the lifetime of an artificial hip or knee is shorter because the synthetic hip moves more easily within younger bone.

The artificial bone is made from a mixture of hydroxyapatite, a crystalline material found in real bone, and synthetic polyethylene. The secret of the researchers' success, however, was to create the material with a sub-microscopic structure similar to human bone.

When the artificial bone comes into contact with real bone they knit, with the real tissue forming tiny, finger-like projections into the surface of the artificial material, ensuring it does not move in its position within the human bone.

Professor Bonfield said he planned to begin using the new technology within two years.