Program Manager: COL Geoffrey Ling, M.D., Ph.D.
 Traumatic battlefield wounds such as compound bone fracture are very difficult to treat, often requiring multiple surgeries and long healing and rehabilitation times. Amputations are not uncommon. Current treatments employing bone screws, plates, and rods are deficient and can themselves lead to further complications.
DARPA seeks to create a dynamic putty-like material which, when packed in/around a compound bone fracture, provides full load-bearing capabilities within days, creates an osteoconductive bone-like internal structure, and degrades over time to harmless resorbable by-products as normal bone regenerates.
"Fracture Putty" could rapidly restore a patient to ambulatory function while normal healing ensues, with dramatically reduced rehabilitation time (and the elimination of infection and secondary fractures).
The goals of the Fracture Putty program are ambitious but, once achieved, would have a revolutionary impact on wound healing. This program is the ultimate convergence of materials science, mechanics, and orthopedics.
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