Scaffold in bone tissue engineering

Artificial bone has become the greatest innovation in the world, giving our everyday patient the security for having bone to be replaced at an affordable price. Each year there are millions of people who are diagnosed with bone loss diseases and bone loss injuries such as a fractured ankle, however due to the traditional method in bone restorations such as autograft and allograft, patients are not guaranteed to have treatment due to bone quality or lack of donors. The aim of this research thesis is to design a new scaffold with the support of a 3D printer to fabricate the scaffold mould using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and then using a mixture of polystyrene (PS) and hydroxyapatite as pre-cure and eventually taking over the mould itself. The final result will be a bio-artificial scaffold, also known as the alloplast method, which is able to mimic the physical environment of a missing tissue in terms of geometrical, topographical and the physical features of the targeted tissue. Most of all, this is affordable and with an almost infinite supply, which allows all patients to enjoy and maintain quality of life.