The synthetic thermoplastic polymer polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is becoming a popular component of clinical orthopedic and spinal applications, but its practical use suffers from several limitations. Although PEEK is biocompatible, chemically stable, radiolucent and has an elastic modulus similar to that of normal human bone, it is biologically inert, preventing good integration with adjacent b...

Carbon-fiber-reinforced polyetheretherketone (CFR-PEEK) has been successfully used in orthopedic implants. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the properties, technical data, and safety of CFR-PEEK biomaterial and to evaluate its potential for new innovation in the design of articulating medical devices. A comprehensive search in PubMed and EMBASE was conducted to identify artic...

Cranioplasty is a commonly performed procedure following decompressive craniectomy. The patients are usually young earning persons and increasing cost of treatment is difficult to bear especially in low and middle income countries. A variety of options are available for cranioplasty ranging from autologus bone graft to xenograft and synthetic materials. Presently the autologous cryopreserved or...

Water sorption, volumetric expansion, and proton conductivity of 1100 EW Nafion and 555 EW sulfonated polyetheretherketone (SPEEK) were compared as functions of water activity at 60 and 80 C. Water sorption in Nafion occurs with a small positive volume of mixing, 0.005 cm/cm. In contrast, water sorption in SPEEK has a large negative volume of mixing 0.05 cm/cm. The percolation thresholds for pr...

BACKGROUND This meta-analysis was performed to identify the benefits and disadvantages of the PEEK cage and titanium cage. METHODS We used "cervical or cervicle", "titanium", and "polyetheretherketone or PEEK" as keywords. Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and other databases were searched to identify eligible studies that were published before October 2015. In a...