Improving bone cement toughness and contrast agent confinement by using acrylic branched polymers.

A new biomedical material to be used as part of acrylic bone cement formulations is described. This new material is tough, its Young's Modulus is similar to the one of poly (methylmethacrylate) and the contrast agent, usually employed in acrylic bone cements, is homogeneously distributed among the polymeric matrix. Additionally, its wear coefficient is 66% lower than the one measured in poly(methyl methacrylate).

Acrylic bone cements: the role of nanotechnology in improving osteointegration and tunable mechanical properties.

Nanotechnology is an extremely powerful emerging technology, which is expected to have a substantial impact on biomedical technology, especially in tissue engineering and drug delivery. The use of nanocompounds and nanoparticles in the synthesis of improved bone cements to be applied in vertebroplasty/kyphoplasty and arthroplasty, is of great interest due to the increasing incidence of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. This review reports new advances in the development of acrylic bone cements, using different radio-opalescent nanomaterials taking into consideration their influence on the mechanical behavior and biocompatibility of the resulting acrylic bone cement.