Hong Kong academic reveals squashy artificial joint that could stave off hip replacements and boost quality of life
Produced with a team at a US university, Rocky Tuan’s ‘microjoint’ could be used by Nasa to investigate how outer space affects the human body
A hip fracture can ruin a person’s quality of life, especially the active middle-aged and the elderly. A joint replacement is not only a major procedure, but also very expensive.
But Chinese University vice chancellor and president Dr Rocky Tuan Sung-chi believes he and his team could soon change that – they have invented an artificial joint that Tuan says can add years of quality life, and perhaps postpone hip replacements by 10 to 15 years, while costing just US$100 to make.
Tuan, a professor of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, explained how he led a team at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States, where he worked before taking up his current job, to produce the “microjoint” – a squashy, bendy implant that can be used in place of a natural joint. A prototype is now being tested on a dog following successful experiments on a miniature pig. Tuan believes human trials are three to four years away.
The US space agency Nasa has taken an interest in the project, and plans to send the man-made joint to the International Space Station to test why astronauts lose bone density during long periods in orbit.
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Tuan said the microjoint, if used in humans, would buy time before a full joint replacement became necessary when treating osteoarthritis, the primary cause of disability that afflicts more than 20 million people a year in the US alone. The degenerative bone disease affects about 7 per cent of men and 13 per cent of women aged over 50 in Hong Kong.