Shanghai hospital pioneers innovative fracture material

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Local medical experts have announced the success of a new biomaterial for implants for patients with ankle fractures, an innovative technology that is an important breakthrough in China's bone material industry, offering patients safer and more precise options.

Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, the home of the National Center for Orthopedics, is the first in the nation to use CFR PEEK (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polyetheretherketone) to fulfill two distal fibular fracture operations.

A 70-year-old woman and a 43-year-old woman both suffered ankle fractures which required surgery.

The usual metallic plate can limit the use of X-rays during surgery, resulting in doctors' failure to have a very clear view of the fracture position. However the X-ray transparency of CFR PEEK allows the fusion to be readily visualized, which allows for better surgery and follow-up monitoring.

Because the new material is not metallic, it is compatible with both computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging technologies. Patients also no longer have to take a doctor's note with them to explain why they have set off an airport's metal detector.

"The development of orthopedic material is an important pushing power of modern medicine. We have been focusing on the transformation and application of CFR PEEK in traumatic orthopedics for a long time and the success of the pioneering surgery has confirmed the new material's safety and effect in ankle fracture treatment, paving the way for material innovation in China's orthopedics," said Dr Shi Zhongmin from Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital's foot and ankle surgery department.

Ankle fractures represent 10 percent of all fractures, making these the second most common lower limb fractures after hip fractures.

The already high incidence of ankle fractures is increasing sharply in line with the aging population.

Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital

Address: No. 600 Yishan Rd, Xuhui District (宜山路600号, 徐汇区)

Tel: 021-2405-6318 (the international department)