[A graded composite material for use in the area of the cranial and facial skull].

For the reconstruction of complex skull defects with individual prefabricated CAD/CAM-implants titanium is well established as bone substitution material. The aim of our studies was to optimize a composite material from polyesters and calcium phosphate. Therefore two different operating procedures (hot pressing and gas-flushing) were combined. As a result the graded composition and porosity of the implants allow a spatial guided degradation progress and cell ingrowth. First biocompatibility tests in vitro with primary human osteoblasts showed a much better pH-characteristic and a better biocompatibility of the composites in comparison with the pure polymers. Degradation experiments in vitro confirmed the different expected degradation rates of the composite materials. As a next step in vivo experiments in ovine skulls are in progress.