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Doctors newspaper online, 04.07.2019
fractures
Because it can be composted, a splint splint to help prevent garbage.
Bone fractures could soon be helped by a compostable rail.
© Mareen Friedrich / Fotolia
POTSDAM. A new splint for immobilizing bone fractures, which can be reshaped several times during treatment, was developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam in cooperation with Nölle Kunststofftechnik. The reshaping is suitable, for example, when the swelling subsides. After use, the rail can be composted, according to the IAP.
The bio-based plastic polylactic acid (PLA) makes its shape and compostability possible. At the Biopolymer Congress, which took place in Halle / Saale on 21 and 22 May 2019, the product RECAST was awarded the second prize in the Biopolymer Innovation Award, which was awarded for product novelties made of compostable plastics.
The rail works in such a way that preformed PLA parts of different sizes are used. The rails would be heated to 55 to 65 ° C. The now malleable plastic is then adapted to the appropriate body site. This process takes about five minutes. If corrections are necessary, the hardened rail can simply be reheated.
"We want to enable users in doctors' practices and hospitals to provide their patients with faster, cleaner and, above all, individual care. In the first place, the rail should be much more comfortable and easier for patients ", Anselm Gröning, Managing Director of Nölle Kunststofftechnik GmbH, is quoted in the communication. "At the same time, it was important to us to use a plastic that avoids garbage, is biodegradable, affordable and non-toxic," says Groening.
Great demands on the material
In developing the material, the plastics processor worked closely with the polymer developers of the Fraunhofer IAP in Potsdam-Golm. "The demands on the material were complex. For example, it should remain malleable for only a half to three minutes and then become hard and stable at body temperature. The shape should also be readjusted several times, "explains Helmut Remde, the head of the Processing Technology Center at Fraunhofer IAP, in the release.
The research team chose to use PLA, although it has a major drawback for most applications: it softens at around 58 ° C. However, for use as an orthopedic splint, the low thermal softening point of PLA is a great advantage. Thus, the product can be repeatedly and quickly reshaped by heating, they say.
The use of PLA brings another decisive benefit: it is biodegradable. While the vast majority of common immobilization agents produce large amounts of plastic waste, which is disposed of in landfills and incinerated, the PLA rails in the industrial composter can be biodegraded. "In this way about 80 percent of waste could be avoided. In addition, 20 percent of the plastic waste could be saved simply by the possibility of reuse, "explains Gröning. Currently, this composting would, however, only work when used in medical practices or privately via the bio bin, the researchers use. Hospitals have their own waste concepts, where composting is not planned.
In order to make the splint even more comfortable for patients, the RECAST products also receive a fleece padding made of PLA and viscose, which was developed jointly with the Saxon Textile Research Institute in Chemnitz. This too is biodegradable. (eb)
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