A number of researchers at the Department of Polymer Science and Technology at the Chemistry Faculty from San Sebastian at the University of the Basque Country, led by Ms Isabel Goñi and Ms Marilo Gurrutxaga, are studying new formulae for acrylic copolymers and compounds in order to obtain efficacious, multiuse bone cements with reduced side effects. Acrylic bone cements based on polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA) have been traditionally used in hip replacements in order to set the prothesis inside the bone. On the other hand, with new techniques such as vertebroplastia, the cement is injected into an affected vertebra by means of long and narrow needles, visualized with X rays.
