Reviewing New Hydrogel Implants

ChE Professor Art Coury was interviewed by Reuters to examine Cativa's new hydrogel implant in the article "Water-based implant new option for Americans with big toe damage".


Source: News @ Northeastern

It’s a good thing for pro­longing a joint’s use without doing some­thing more drastic, like a total joint replace­ment … but nobody knows how long this hydrogel will last,” said Dr. Arthur Coury, a pro­fessor of chem­ical engi­neering at North­eastern Uni­ver­sity in Boston.

There are some horror sto­ries of hydro­gels degrading in the body and what they have done, when they’re meant to be long-​​lasting.”

Data from a small study tracking Cartiva patients for five years after implan­ta­tion showed that more than 90 per­cent of those eval­u­ated retained normal or near-​​normal joint function.

I think Cartiva’s product needs to be val­i­dated over a much longer period of time before fusion is replaced to a major degree,” Coury told Reuters.

 

Related Faculty: Arthur J. Coury

Related Departments:Chemical Engineering