Dense drug-eluting biodegradable Fe-Ag nanocomposites

Abstract Biodegradable metals in orthopedics are aimed to eliminate secondary the surgical intervention for implant removal, and thus improve patient compliance, reduce surgery costs and the risk of infections. In addition, biodegradable implants could be loaded with different drugs to prevent the growth of pathogens and the development of bone infections, kill remaining cancer cells after tumor resection or stimulate bone regeneration. However, drugs undergo thermal decomposition under the conditions of conventional metal fabrication processes. In this work, we describe the fabrication of a dense drug-eluting biodegradable Fe-Ag nanocomposite containing 10 vol% of Ag and loaded with the an…