The federal government issued researchers at Albuquerque-based University of New Mexico a patent for a meshplate device they hope will replace metal implants.
Here are four things to know:
1. The design team hopes to license and manufacture the mesh plate as an alternative device used to treat fractured bone underlying a thin layer of soft tissue.
2. Researchers based the design on mesh devices used to treat facial fractures.
3. Researchers produced the device from several different materials to avoid metallic implant corrosion and breakdown.
4. Specifically designed to resist high-tension knee, elbow and sternum fracture stresses, the device may also treat fractures requiring surgical implants just below the skin.
UNM Assistant Professor and Director of UNM's orthopedics biomechanics & biomaterials laboratory Christina Salas said, "…Our high-tension mesh device precisely molds to bony contours for enhanced compression."
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