An ‘electric’ implant that helps broken bones mend quicker before dissolving away has been developed by scientists.
Placed over a fracture, the device, which resembles a sticking plaster, generates a mild electric current to accelerate the rate of healing.
In animal tests, a broken tibia (shin bone) knitted back together completely in just six weeks when the 1 cm-long implant was used, but took at least ten weeks when it was not.
After 18 weeks, there was no sign of the implant, which is made from a biodegradable man-made material, called poly lactic-co-glycolic acid, or PLGA, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported earlier this month.
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