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32 MedICAL teCHnoLoGY
InteRVIeW
“Material artifacts diminish the image quality”
Dr. Markus Braun has two jobs: He is attending physician at
the Klinikum Westfalen in Dortmund and team doctor at
Borussia Dortmund football club. A specialist in sports medicine,
Braun knows a great deal—about premature signs of
exhaustion, fast healing processes, and the question of the
right implant material.
You’ll be standing on the sidelines again next weekend,
Dr. Braun: As a fan or a concerned physician?
Braun: All of the above! My first responsibility is as a physician,
but you automatically become a fan. When you spend
that much time with the players, you develop a personal
relationship beyond the normal doctor-patient relationship.
How much time do you actually spend with the players?
Braun: In any given week I spend a couple of hours on
the training ground almost every evening. And I go to
every game on the weekend. This time we go to Berlin:
We’ll be traveling from Friday afternoon to Saturday
evening. Then, it’s right back to training Sunday morning.
Editor’s note: Dr. Braun also had his work cut out for him
this weekend. In the win over Hertha BSC, Lukasz Piszczek
suffered a concussion and contusion of the skull when
he collided with another player.
everyone knows that professional athletes are especially
prone to injury. what long-term impact does this kind
of permanent stress have on the body?
Braun: Signs of exhaustion are often the first to appear.
By age 40 or 45, osteoarthritis is not unusual. Top athletes
are also frequent candidates for implants.
what criteria are crucial to the optimal implant?
Braun: Naturally, it would be best to completely forego
the use of foreign material. This is not always possible,
however. When foreign material has to be used, the material
properties are crucial: Biocompatibility is the first
consideration. Of course, the material must be as durable
as possible to prevent the need for a second operation.
Wear resistance and the right amount of elasticity are
crucial to stability. If these properties are not what they
should be, the implant can cause problems later.
elements39 Issue 2|2012
what materials do you work with?
Braun: There is a trend in medicine toward minimally
invasive surgery and away from large-scale operations.
Minimally invasive surgery makes only small incisions and
is controlled by imaging methods such as CT or MRT. In
the case of CT, small steel needles are used, and in MRT,
amagnetic materials such as carbon fibers or titanium.
Many materials are well known to generate artifacts on
the screen. How do you handle that?
Braun: Artifacts on the image are a disaster! For me, they
are a real problem, particularly with the equipment.
Braun shows a CT scan from a spinal column cementing procedure.
The area around the bone punch cannula is obscured
by the white of the artifacts. Without this buildup of artifacts,
I could work with greater precision.
the material PeeK doesn’t leave artifacts.
Braun: That is, in fact, an interesting feature of my work.
To get that kind of information, I usually have to do my own
research or trust the claims of the implant manufacturers.
Right now, there is no direct exchange between doctors and
material manufacturers. And these are the experts who
ultimately have to convert my requirements into concrete
technical data.