[Emerging Spine Surgery Technologies] Take a Peek…at PEKK! -- High-Performance Thermoplastic (Ultra Pure Polymer) Receives FDA Approval

[Justin]

Take a Peek…at PEKK!

Orthopedics This Week
Jacqueline Rupp • Thu, Aug 12th, 2010
Copyright 2009-2010 RRY Publications

XPEKK-IG…It's a name with a lot of letters that doesn't give any clue to the nature of its make-up. But PEKK is actually a high-performance thermoplastic that's an ultra pure polymer.

And, it just received FDA clearance in a long-term medical implant with the Kent Medical Devices product that is used to radiographically mark soft tissue sites during and after surgical procedures.

Manufactured by Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), this 510(k) clearance signals the first time a device using the proprietary barium-containing, radio-opaque polyaryletherketone polymer has been granted such approval in the U.S.

Having already had a presence in the commercial markets of Europe, the Middle East, South America and most recently Korea, PEKK is within the class of PAEK, so this is a material that already has a global following.

With properties similar to bone, the polymer is said to have a high level of biocompatibility according to Oxford's data. OXPEKK-IG has the potential for use in spinal cages, bone screws and hip and knee implants.

Oxford says that some of the top features include OXPEKK-IG's density and stiffness, which is said to be lower than metallic biomaterials, resulting in better force distribution and creating an improved bone-implant interface and fusion rate.

[sportsnut3007]

USA catching up lol woo gooo usa . Im sure this is like ancient news in europe.

[Greg]

Take a Peek…at PEKK!
XPEKK-IG…It's a name with a lot of letters that doesn't give any clue to the nature of its make-up. But PEKK is actually a high-performance thermoplastic that's an ultra pure polymer.

With properties similar to bone, the polymer is said to have a high level of biocompatibility according to Oxford's data. OXPEKK-IG has the potential for use in spinal cages, bone screws and hip and knee implants.

Oxford says that some of the top features include OXPEKK-IG's density and stiffness, which is said to be lower than metallic biomaterials, resulting in better force distribution and creating an improved bone-implant interface and fusion rate.

So this device is basically a plastic polymer but they talk about it creating an improved bone-implant interface and fusion rate. So is this polymer material what would be used as the cage that holds the BMP? How exactly would a plastic cage increase the fusion rate over a metal cage?