Customised hip resurfacing arthroplasty implant

CustomHip is a Greek project funded by the Special Secretariat for ERDF & CF Programmes (Operational Programme Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation 2014-2020 (EPAnEK) - T2EDK-02410) aiming at the manufacturing of a pioneering Personalized Hip Resurfacing Implant with ceramic coating, automatically designed by an innovative software.

The purpose of CustomHip is to create an innovative metal hip arthroplasty implant (customized to the patient's needs) with a ceramic coating in order to avoid all the negative effects and disadvantages of friction between metal surfaces (metal on metal), while retaining all the advantages of the surface arthroplasty method, i.e., minimal bone removal of the femoral head.

The orthopedic inventor Dr. I. Vlachos in collaboration with Akmelogi SMPC initiated the research project for the development of a new, World Patented, implant for Hip Arthroplasty, based on the connection of academic research (required condition) focusing on the great need of the medical world and the world market to solve with a simple, minimally invasive and viable way the hip osteoarthritis problem. The main expected results from the implementation of the project can be summarized as follows:

• Development of a new implant for hip resurfacing arthroplasty that will tackle effectively the problem of lesions of the hip joint avoiding total hip arthroplasty (total replacement of the hip joint after removal of the diseased femur head).
• Designing the new implant is proven to solve fracture problems of the femoral neck and aseptic detachment of the implant, while the successful coating of metal surfaces with a strong adhesive ceramic coating of low surface roughness will give an answer to the problem of metal on metal wear.
• The new implant will therefore provide a solution to a large number of patients worldwide (1 million operations per year) through a simple operation, providing them with complete restoration of their motor abilities.
• The competitiveness and outreach of Akmelogi and MIRTEC10 in the international markets will be enhanced from the exploitation of the results of the research project.
• Entrepreneurship and innovation will be supported in new products in the the healthcare and materials sectors.
• Creation and maintenance of specialized jobs (3 equivalents of annual employment).
• Full exploitation of dissemination and publicity tools (publications, exhibitions, workshops, social networks, participation in innovation transmission networks) to increase the impact of the research project.

	AKMELOGI is a start-up SME possessing high expertise and know-how in developing and manufacturing high-tech machinery. AKMELOGI is involved in the field of surface engineering, machine tool manufacturing, and the development of new tools for structure optimization, with the prospect of becoming a major player in industrial research through the introduction and consolidation of its innovations. AKMELOGI develops industrial solutions, using state-of-the-art technologies, thanks to the multiyear scientific activity carried out by a team of competent engineers, researchers, and academics.
	MIRTEC SA is the Greek multi-sectoral multi-technological center for laboratory tests and certification of industrial and consumer products, materials, facilities and management systems. MIRTEC is the only Hellenic Certification Organization with privately owned laboratories for measurements and analysis of materials and products, which provide the ability to offer complete solutions. The company has shown important and systematic collaborations with industrial companies both in Greece and abroad, while its parallel research activity in conjunction with pilot advanced production materials constitutes its competitive advantage.
	The National Technical University of Athens is an internationally renowned Higher Education Institution with primary mission to provide tertiary education of high quality and to promote science and technology through its nine Faculties. In CustomHip, NTUA participates with the Metallurgy laboratory of the Mining Engineering-Metallurgy School and in particular with the specialized laboratory of the ceramics research team. The ceramics team of NTUA deals for more than one decade with the development of nanopowders and nanostructured ceramic coatings on metal substrates aiming at creating protective coatings, as well as with the development of ceramics through molding techniques and sintering.
	The University of Thessaly is one of the newest Universities of the country, with a Medical School based in Larissa and carries out the clinical educational activity at the University Hospital of Larissa since 1999. At the University Orthopedic Clinic of the tertiary of our hospital, we have carried out 46,000 surgeries, of which 9,000 are related to the hip either because of arthritis or because of fragility fractures.

The most important results obtained from the Project in summary are:

1. The development of software that calculates the diameter of the femoral head and then automatically designs a custom resurfacing implant.
2. The development of a ceramic coating on the concave and convex surfaces of the titanium-printed implants. The effectiveness of the coatings was determined using advanced microscopy methods.
3. The construction of a device for the mechanical stress of the implant and the determination of the tribological behavior of the ceramic coatings which highlighted the success of the coatings and the implant as a system.
4. Series of publications in international conferences and journals.
5. Akmelogi's participation in the MEDICA international exhibition where the research results were presented and the potential value of the implant as a product was highlighted.
6. Ηolding an online seminar open to the general public with an emphasis on university students where the course of the Project, the results and their importance were presented and a Q&A was held between the participants and the researchers from the institutions.