An overview of nano-polymers for orthopedic applications.

This review paper presents many exciting nanotechnology and tissue engineering approaches involving polymers that have enormous potential impact on human health care, particularly for orthopedic applications. As scaffolds play a vital role in tissue engineering, the feasibility of designing polymeric nano-featured scaffolds is reviewed. Although bone is a very diverse tissue providing different functions within the body, recent work has resulted in new biomaterials with promise to solve orthopedic problems. Significant advancements in orthopedic care are required since recent data highlight a less than 15 year lifetime of current hip implants. Nanotechnology (or the use of nanomaterials) is providing a wide range of new materials to improve the current short lifetimes of orthopedic implants.