Chapter 1925 【1925】Artificial Materials

Things that can replace human bones must be as hard as bones, so metal materials are more common in orthopedics.

If these few things had not appeared in the surgeon's box, at first glance they would have been regarded as some mechanical parts.

The cylindrical shape seems to be closed up like a screen. This thing is called a titanium cage, a type of orthopedic material.

Just looking at this structure, you know that it should belong to simple equipment, and it is true. It is a supporting material with the least complicated structure in the fixed fusion artificial vertebral body. Since it has no height-adjusting device, it cannot be adjusted during surgery, and its stability depends on the spikes at both ends of the head and tail. The surgeon can only add titanium plates or nail rods to help fix it.

Medical materials are constantly developing. To solve the defect that the titanium cage cannot be adjusted in height, another artificial vertebral body that can be adjusted in height will definitely be invented, called an adjustable fixed artificial vertebral body.

This kind of artificial vertebral body is like the one that Xie Wanying sees in her predecessor's hand. The structure is actually not complicated. It is a cone composed of an inner cylinder and an outer cylinder, plus an adjustment screw. If the surgeon wants to adjust the height during the operation, the inner cylinder should be pulled up and then fixed; The adjustment can be adjusted, but the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder are fixed only by screws, and the stability is not reliable after thinking about it. Therefore, the surgeon must also add a screw-rod system to it to assist in fixation.

How to strengthen the self-stability of the artificial vertebral body, medical scientists have invented the following artificial vertebral body called self-fixation. This kind of artificial vertebral body does not need to add titanium plate and screw-rod system, it relies on its own front and rear ends to be directly fixed to the adjacent vertebral body with screws.

The above three types are all fusion artificial vertebral bodies. They develop step by step and strive to overcome the previous defects, but in the end there will inevitably be relative surgical sequelae due to loss of mobility.

Here we must mention that when the vertebral body is removed during surgery, the cartilage tissue between the vertebral bodies, that is, the intervertebral disc must be removed at the same time. Only in this way can the artificial vertebral body be fixed between the front and back two vertebral bodies. After the intervertebral disc is removed, it is conceivable that it will affect the physiological function of this part of the spine. Therefore, the fusion-type artificial vertebral body is fixed and cannot be bent, so it cannot replace the intervertebral disc. In this case, the pressure of spinal activities can only be transmitted to the adjacent vertebral body. If the adjustment is not good, the intervertebral disc of the adjacent vertebral body may eventually degenerate. If the patient is an elderly person, the atrophy of the intervertebral disc is already not good, and the situation will be more serious later.

Knowing this defect, the movable artificial vertebral body was invented. The purpose of the movement is to match the artificial vertebral body that replaces the function of the intervertebral disc. This kind of vertebral body has part of the function of the intervertebral disc and can normally bend forward and rotate sideways. It's just that these movable artificial vertebral bodies are immature and still in the stage of exploration. The ideal is beautiful, but it is very difficult to be exactly the same as the original organs and tissues of the human body, to be obedient and to be equivalent to the Creator. The latest upgraded products are definitely more expensive than the old ones. In order to save money, the fixed-type artificial vertebral body plus screw-rod system is more common in clinical practice, and doctors' technical efforts are needed to make up for the shortcomings of the fixed type.

After reading these things, people in other departments are indeed reviewing orthopedic knowledge. One by one looked at Chang Jiawei while lost in thought. Can you put this artificial vertebral body in the most suitable position and adjust the most suitable height.