Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 5
Self-Setting Calcium Orthophosphate
Formulations: Cements, Concretes,
Pastes, and Putties
5.1
Introduction
Calcium
orthophosphates
have
been
studied
as
bone-repair
materials for the last 80 years. The first
use of calcium
orthophosphates was performed in 1920; that time the researchers
implanted tricalcium phosphate (TCP) into animals to test its efficacy
as a bone substitute [1]. In the following years, some other calcium
orthophosphates were tested on animals to investigate their effect
on the healing of nonunions [2]. However, it was 1951, when for the
first time hydroxyapatite (HA) was implanted in rats and guinea pigs
[3]. Those attempts might be characterized as initial medical trials
with the first generation of bone-substituting biomaterials. However,
it was already the 1970s, when other calcium orthophosphates
were synthesized, characterized, investigated, and tried in medicine
[4-10]. The list of known calcium orthophosphates, including their
standard abbreviations and the major properties, is shown in Table
1.1 [11].
It is generally considered that the possibility to obtain a
monolithic calcium orthophosphate bioceramics at ambient or body
temperature via a cementation reaction was put forward by the
scientists at the American Dental Association LeGeros et al. [12] and
in vivo
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