Treatment of massive bone defects is one of the most difficult problems to solve in orthopedics. At present, there is no consensus on the best way to resolve these problems. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of a three-dimensional bioimplant over massive bone defects, and to analyse if it improves the speed and quality of integration in recipient bone compared to allograft treatment. Fifteen female lambs with massive bone defects, surgically created in their tibias, were randomly divided into three groups of five lambs each: Group I -treated with the bioimplant; Group 2 -treated with the bioimplant plus nucleated cells of autologous bone marrow; Group 3 -treated with a frozen allograft. Radiographs were taken post-treatment at weeks 1, 6, and 12. Animals were euthanized to obtain the studied bone segment for morphological analyses.
Treatment: with bioimplants vs. bioimplant plus bone marrow nucleated cells (BMNCs) showed a notorious osteogenic effect, but with greater osteoid synthesis and cellularity in the latter. These results suggest that combined treatment with bioimplants and BMNCs have an additive effect on massive bone defects in lambs. These experimental results could be applied to repair damaged human bone.
Keywords: Bioimplant; Massive bone defects; Osteogenesis; Tissue engineering.
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