Resorbable screws made from pure silk may provide greater benefits in bone fracture fixation than the traditional metal alloy fixation systems, according to an article in Nature Communications.
Silk bone fixation systems may provide better bone remodeling, and they absorb into the body over time, eliminating the need to be surgically removed like metal fixation systems, according to a Today's Medical Developments report regarding the study.
Silk protein may be similar to bone composition, unlike metal, providing a better match for a bone healing, said Samuel Lin, MD, attending plastic surgeon at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, in the report.
Additionally, silk can stabilize and deliver bioactive components and could potentially deliver antibiotics, pharmaceuticals or other therapeutics, and silk does not swell very rapidly, which could help reduce inflammatory responses, according to the report.
"Having a resorbable, long-lasting plate and screw system has potentially huge applications," Dr. Lin said in the report. "We're extremely excited to continue this work in larger animal models and ultimately in human clinical trials."
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