Our ossified craniums have evolved over the eons to protect the brains from harmful injuries, but this tough bone structure also prevents easy access to the brain for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Specifically, laser light that can otherwise visualize tissue and ablate anything needing removal can’t pass through the cranium and is essentially useless unless holes are drilled prior to each procedure.
Researchers at University of California, Riverside have developed a transparent prosthetic implant that can replace a piece of skull and provide a window to the brain that can be used repeatedly to monitor a site of an injury and deliver treatment over an extended period of time without additional craniectomies. The “window to the brain” was created from nanocrystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia (nc-YSZ), a biocompatible ceramic that’s been used previously in medical implants. It’s considerably stronger than other transparent materials that could have been used in the past but that were too brittle for practical applications. The new zirconia-based prosthesis may signal a future of more effective long-term brain treatments and improved monitoring of disease sites.
Article in Nanomedicine: Transparent Nanocrystalline Yttria-Stabilized-Zirconia Calvarium Prosthesis…
