Nano iron oxide-hydroxyapatite composite ceramics with enhanced radiopacity

Hydroxyapatite has been widely used for a variety of bone filling and augmentation applications. But the poorly resolved X-ray image of certain hydroxyapatite (HA) based implants such as porous blocks and self setting HA cements is a radiological problem to surgeons for monitoring of the implant and early diagnosis complications. In the present work the practical difficulty related to the reduced X-ray opacity was overcome by exploiting the contrast enhancement property of iron oxide nano particles. Sintered nano iron oxide-HA composite ceramics were prepared from powders produced through a co-precipitation route. The phase purity and bioactivity of the composites were analyzed as a function of percentage iron oxide in the composite. The X-ray attenuation of dense and porous composites was compared with pure HA using a C-arm X-ray imaging system and micro computed tomography. In all the prepared composites, HA retains its phase identity and high X-ray opacity as obtained for a composition containing 40 wt% iron oxide. The increased cell viability and cell adhesion nature depicted by the prepared composite offers considerable interest for the material in bone tissue engineering applications.