Analysis and Characterisation of Plasma Treated PEEK Scaffolds and their Implementation in Radiotherapy

Abstract

Bone sarcomas are a present as tumours which occur in bones and soft tissues. Bone must often be removed during the treatment of these cancers and a replacement bone scaffold must be implanted to heal and bridge the removed tissue. Titanium stands as the most popular implant as a general orthopaedic implant due to its impressive mechanical properties and bio-compatibility. However, the high stiffness also poses problems due to the material mismatch with bone and can cause aseptic loosening at the interface, potentially leading to implant failure. In radiotherapy, titanium perturbs radiation beams and compromises both radiotherapy and imaging beams as well as damaging the osseointegrating cells. Our solution is to 3D print scaffolds out of Poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK), a biocompatible polymer already used in orthopaedics