Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Calcium sulfate is mixed with other biomaterials in order to overcome its weaknesses or failings.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the application of calcium sulfate as a mixture with other materials acting as drug release system and scaffold material for tissue engineering.
METHODS: Using “calcium sulfate, bone repair material, drug release, biomaterials, compound materials” in Chinese and “calcium sulfate, mixture, bone defect, drug release” in English as the key words, a computer-based online search of China Academic Journal Full-text database and PubMed database (1980-01/2012-03) was performed for articles about the application of calcium sulfate as a mixture with other materials.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Calcium sulfate has more advantages and peculiarities than other biomaterials and make a well development in clinic. However, some disadvantages such as too rapid resorption or too short drug release period hinder its widespread use in clinic. Therefore, many studies have been focused on the application of calcium sulfate as a mixture with other materials recently. Combining calcium sulfate with other material to obtain an ideal material may be a promising and sane choice. This can make the best use of calcium sulfate advantages and bypass its disadvantages. Future research is required to enhance and improve the resorption property, drug release profile, handling characteristics and physical properties of calcium sulfate through mixing with other materials while preserving its biocompatibility and osteoconduction.