Methods of making shaped load-bearing osteoimplant

1. A method for making a load-bearing osteoimplant which comprises:

providing an aggregate containing a population of bone particles and, optionally, one or more optional components selected from the group consisting of binder, filler, plasticizer, wetting agent, surface active agent, biostatic/biocidal agent, bioactive substance, reinforcing material and reinforcing structure,

wherein at least some of the bone particles in the population are not fully demineralized and at least some of the bone particles in the population are fibrous bone particles; and

shaping the aggregate into a coherent mass in at least one shaping operation to provide a shaped composite having an initial configuration for subsequent shaping into a desired osteoimplant or a final configuration corresponding to that of the osteoimplant, wherein the shaped composite has a bulk density of greater than approximately 0.7 g/cm 3 .

2. The method of claim 1 wherein shaping further comprises an initial shaping of the aggregate into an osteoimplant blank and a subsequent shaping of the osteoimplant blank into a fully shaped osteoimplant.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the shaping of the aggregate is accomplished by compressing the aggregate within a mold, optionally at elevated temperature.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by molding.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the molding is injection molding.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the molding is blow molding.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the molding is rotational molding.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the molding is leach molding.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the molding is leavening molding.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by casting.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the casting is solvent casting.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the casting is gel casting.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by a CAD/CAM operation.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by rolling.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by vacuum-forming.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by sintering.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by melt-forming.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by thermoforming.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by foam molding.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by forging.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the aggregate is shaped at least in part by laser fusion of polymer binder therein.

22. The method of claim 2 wherein subsequent shaping of the blank into the fully shaped osteoimplant includes a machining operation.

23. The method of claim 13 which further comprises:

imaging a patient's implantation site to provide digital information for a three dimensional model of an osteoimplant to be implanted at the site;

converting the three dimensional model of the osteoimplant into a CAD file stored in the memory of a computer;

machining a blank which is a coherent mass of an aggregate containing bone particles and, optionally, one or more optional components selected from the group consisting of binder, filler, plasticizer, wetting agent, surface active agent, biostatic/biocidal agent, bioactive substance, reinforcing material and reinforcing structure to provide the osteoimplant, the machining being carried out by a machine executing a defined tool path numerically controlled by the computer in which the CAD file is stored.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein imaging is carried out by CAT scan, MRI or MUI.

25. The method of claim 13 which further comprises;

imaging a patient's implantation site to provide digital information for a three dimensional model of an osteoimplant to be implanted at the site;

converting the three dimensional model of the osteoimplant into a CAD file stored in memory of a computer;

forming a mold whose shaping surface conforms to the osteoimplant using the CAD file; and

forming the osteoimplant in the mold.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein imaging is carried out by CAT scan, MRI or MUI.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shaped composite has a wet compressive strength of at least about 3 MPa.

28. The method of claim 1 , wherein the load-bearing osteoimplant further comprises fibrillar collagen.