Researchers at the Materials and Energy Research Center have developed a new type of medical steel used in implants, which will soon be produced on a mass scale.
Mohammad Mehdi Hadavi, head of MERC, said the medical stainless steel has been certified by the Ministry of Health for laboratory procedures and the Karaj-based center will soon start its semi-industrial production, Mehr News Agency reports.
“We have a plan to start the semi-industrial production of medical stainless steel within the next two months so that patients can have access to these high-quality and reasonably-priced materials,” he said. Hadavi added that the domestically-produced material will soon replace the much more expensive imported counterpart.
“Medical steel is used in bone fracture repair. Due to its high price, counterfeit and contraband products are being sold to patients instead which can be harmful to human bodies,” he said.
According to Hadavi, the adverse effects of nickel ions in industrial steel being released into the human body have prompted the development of high-nitrogen nickel-free austenitic stainless steels for medical applications.
The number of patients who received spurious and unsatisfactory hips and plates is currently unknown, but the indigenization of the technology will make implants reliable and cheaper.
