Orthopaedic and spinal implants enable the treatment of debilitating, and sometimes life-limiting conditions, with over 2.5 million replacement procedures carried out annually around the world to alleviate the suffering caused by disease or an injury to a joint.
Joint replacements are usually successful procedures but, over time, the loosening of an implant from living bone can result in a significant number of repeat implants required for patients. This not only causes considerable pain, limiting a patient’s quality of life, but also puts pressure on healthcare service resources due to the increased number of surgeries.
To tackle this challenge, our engineering researchers have developed, patented and licensed an additive manufacturing solution that prevents the loosening of implants for patients.
The advanced additive manufacturing technique developed by our engineers, based on laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), utilises high-power industrial lasers and metal powders to enable the manufacture of unique porous titanium implants.
Using our technique, the additively manufactured implants have already helped hundreds of thousands of patients around the world, positively impacting over 300,000 new patients every year. The innovative design is increasing the lifetime of implants and reducing revision surgery rates.
View our PDF to read more about our research with impact.
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