Porous metals (sintered beads and meshes) have been used for many years for different orthopedic applications. Metal foams have been recently developed. These foams have the advantage of being more porous than the traditional coatings. Their high porosity provides more space for bone ingrowth and mechanical interlocking and presents more surface for implant-bone contact. The objective of this study was to evaluate in vivo bone ingrowth into Ti implants covered with a novel Ti foam coating. This foam contains 50% in volume of interconnected pores and a higher surface area compared to dense Ti. Both coated implants and dense Ti controls were placed transcortically in the rat tibia. The animals were sacrificed at 2 weeks after implantation, and the amount of bone in the implants was determined using backscattered electron imaging and X-ray microtomography. Already at this time interval, the pores within the Ti foam showed 97.7% bone filling, and the bone-implant contact area was significantly increased compared to dense Ti controls. These initial results indicate that this novel Ti foam is biocompatible, has the capacity to sustain bone formation, and can potentially improve osseointegration.
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