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Titanium and its alloys are commonly used in almost all disciplines of
medicine because of their sufficient biocompatibility and meeting of mechanical
requirements. However, dense metallic biomaterials represent only an
interfacial connection with host tissue, may develop stress shielding which
causes ingrowth of the fibrous tissue, and are prone to microbial adhesion
and development of biomaterial associated infections. Therefore, development
of a new, porous titanium biomaterial is proposed to improve an
implant’s interconnection with bone, provide better stabilization, and reduce
the risk of the loss of the implant. In this review, recent findings in porous
titanium biomaterials engineering are discussed, including the structural and
strengthening aspects of titanium alloys. The porosity and design of porous
structures, as well as the optimization process are also described. An
extensive part of this section is dedicated to manufacturing processes. The
next section of the review is devoted to osseointegration of porous implants
and surface treatment processes, whose purpose are antibacterial activity or
local drug delivery. Summarizing the article, some future predictions have
been presented.
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