Kazan University Clinic testing biodegradable plant-based implants

The research is especially important for young patients.

The prosthetics technology is based on potato and corn materials which serve as “food” for the replaced tissues and can be slowly absorbed by the patient’s own tissue. If the trials are successful, the treatment can be used for sclerosis, aneurysms, and various blood vessel pathologies.

Over a dozen lab animals have been operated on so far, and the results sound promising. Project head, surgeon Vyacheslav Averyanov, explains that children may benefit the most, “A kid grows up, but the prosthesis cannot grow up with her. She needs another surgery. And that’s what stimulated me to tackle this problem.”

The work started in 2012 under the guidance of renowned surgeon Leonid Mirolyubov, who in 2008 had performed the first prosthetics procedure with Alloplant, a biodegradable material.

Dr. Averyanov has made advancements in Alloplant technology and successfully tried it on rats. The current testing is supported by Kazan Federal University, Republican Clinical Hospital, Kazan State Medical University, Liniya Zhizni (Life Line) Foundation, Ministry of Health of Tatarstan, and the University Clinic. KFU’s brand new Wet Lab facilities are used.

The researchers hope that the technology can replace existing artificial prostheses. “This is all the more important for our little patients who become hostages of repeated surgical procedures because artificial prosthetics are not capable of natural growth,” emphasizes Head of Cardiology at the University Clinic Daniyar Khaziakhmetov.

Source text: Natalia Doroshkevich

Translation: Yury Nurmeev