Broken Cyborg (was Re: "Transcending the Human, DIY Style")

 We're in it for human enhancement, synthetic biologies, longevity, nootropics, software, prosthetics,

As you can see from the x-rays (most clearly in the fourth picture), I have a titanium full knee replacement with a broken rod that takes the place of a tibia.

http://picasaweb.google.com/technologiclee/ProstheticImplantXRays#



History:

This started as an ostogenic sarcoma in the tibia at age 15.
http://www.google.com/search?q=ostogenic+sarcoma

There was a year of chemotherapy.
The knee was replaced with a cadaver bone that was shattered a year later.

The knee was then replaced by the hardware shown in the x-rays.
I had good mobility for about 10 years. Then one day the rod just broke in mid step.
This is probably due to metal fatigue.

The rod has been broken for over two years now.


My options:

I have not found a doctor that is interested in attempting to replace this hardware yet. Maybe my new health care will bring help this year.

At the time of the surgery this was a fairly new procedure. Since then it has become more commonplace, but it is still a fairly complex surgery. There would be no guarantee of improved mobility and the possibility of infection, amputation and or death.

Honestly, I do not think that the procedures currently available are what I want.

I would like something more 'natural', like having a replacement knee printed by a bone printer and installed. There is already nerve, muscle and skin damage, so for an ideal solution, stem cells would be used to regenerate the damaged tissues.

http://www.google.com/search?q=bone+printer

What would be better is to augment the knee with robotics internally or as an external brace, like they are working on at MIT Leg Lab.

http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/leglab/


Best Solution:

Now that the future is here, the hardware and software for 'medical nanobots' is almost ready. What would this entail? Removing the hardware. Directing stem cells to sites of damage and allow them to organize into appropriate tissues. This means that a 3-D model of the leg would be made and a set of instructions prepared to direct the robots. This is the next 'Killer App'. I would like for this to be the start of a thread about medical hardware and software in terms of radical reconstruction. What is the best medical and machine control software available to base this off of? For a start there is EMC machine control software and Google Body.

http://www.google.com/search?q=medical+nanobot
http://www.google.com/search?q=EMC+machine+control
http://www.google.com/search?q=google+body

Do you remember the 'tissue processing' scene from the movie The Fifth Element? Watch the hardware and software in this clip. This is the goal. This is something that is coming together from every corner of research.

http://en.vidivodo.com/183936/the-fifth-element-part-1




Trans-dermal Implant:

During the chemotherapy I had a "port (or portacath)" installed and later removed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_%28medical%29

In terms of size and considering modern electronics, that is enough volume to place something like a low power processor.

http://www.google.com/search?q=low+power+implantable+computer
http://www.google.com/search?q=implantable+computer



P.S.
Did you see the new spray on skin technique??

http://www.google.com/search?q=spray+on+skin