Alloy with "Memory" Helps Fractures Heal.

• Position: Nitinol - Brief Article

A metal wire that "remembers" its shape may be ideal for helping a broken bone heal faster and more reliably. Researchers at Ohio State University, Columbus, compared Nitinol--a nickel and titanium alloy--to stainless steel in an experiment designed to see which metal worked best on a simulated broken bone. Where the stainless steel wire lost tension during the simulation, the Nitinol kept a continuous pull. Loss of tension could cause a bone to heal improperly.

"Metals like Nitinol remember their original shape," indicates Alan Litsky, associate professor of orthopedics and biomedical engineering. "This shape `memory' can be used to help compress broken bones, which could mean a quicker healing time, and a better fusion of the bone."

One common way that surgeons treat certain fractures is to tie wire around the affected bone in order to pull the fractured pieces together. The problem is that stainless steel --the most common metal used in these wires--tends to...