Articular cartilage repair

Inventors

Estes, Bradley T. • Guilak, Farshid • Moutos, Franklin Thomas

Assignees

Cytex Therapeutics Inc

Abstract

An implant is configured for repair and regeneration of cartilage lesions. The implant includes a three-dimensional woven textile scaffold and a three-dimensional rigid, porous substrate. The scaffold is bonded to the substrate such that the substrate supports the scaffold. The substrate is configured to be inserted into bone tissue including cartilage lesions such that the substrate and the scaffold replace the bone tissue including the cartilage lesions. The substrate and scaffold are further configured such that after the substrate and the scaffold have replaced the bone tissue including the cartilage lesions, the substrate and scaffold promote growth and integration of new bone tissue into the implant.

Core Innovation

The invention is a cartilage repair implant for repair and regeneration of a cartilage lesion. The implant includes a three-dimensional scaffold comprising at least three layers of woven fibers and a three-dimensional porous substrate that is configured to press fit and integrate into bone. The porous substrate is fixedly coupled to the scaffold and is intended to replace or treat a cartilage lesion in a bone-joint environment.

The three-dimensional porous substrate comprises a first three-dimensionally printed layer and a second three-dimensionally printed layer arranged on top of the first layer. The first printed layer includes a first plurality of extruded struts oriented in a first strut direction, and the second printed layer includes a second plurality of extruded struts oriented in a second strut direction. The second strut direction is angled approximately 30 degrees to approximately 120 degrees relative to the first strut direction.

The woven-fiber scaffold and the rigid porous, three-dimensionally printed substrate are implemented together as a hybrid structure. The porous substrate is press-fit anchored into bone and is configured to integrate into bone while remaining fixedly coupled to the scaffold. In this manner, the implant is structured to support cartilage repair and regeneration while enabling coupling between the scaffold layers and the bone-integrating porous substrate.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim is directed to a cartilage repair implant that combines a multi-layer woven-fiber scaffold with a fixedly coupled, multi-layer three-dimensionally printed porous substrate configured for press-fit integration into bone. The claim specifies an angled relationship between extruded strut directions for the first and second printed layers, yielding three principal inventive structural features.

Across the independent claim, the key inventive coverage lies in the pairing of an at least three-layer woven-fiber three-dimensional scaffold with a fixedly coupled, press-fit and bone-integrating three-dimensional porous substrate built from first and second three-dimensionally printed layers that include extruded struts oriented in two directions angled approximately 30° to approximately 120° relative to one another.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications

No documented applications found