First bionic bone implant

In July 2006, scientists at the University College London, UK, announced that early clinical trials at Mount Vernon Hospital in Middlesex, UK, had been completed for a method of attaching a titanium rod directly to human bone. While rods and pins have been used for many years in broken-bone repair, this was the first time that the metal rod protruded through the skin. The aim is to enable direct attachment of prosthetic limbs onto residual bone, rather than strapping them to the limb as a whole. To solve the issue of passing metal through skin without infection, the scientists examined how deer antlers are attached. They found that incorporating a porous plate around the metal rod and underneath the upper laying of skin allowed long fibres of skin tissue to bond to the plate without tearing under flexure. The technique is known as Intraosseous Transcutaneous Amputation Prosthesis (ITAP). Starting with replacement finger and thumb upper portions, the technique has been successfully applied to major limbs such as lower legs and arms.

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