The effects of bovine trabecular bone matrix particulates on cortical bone repair.

This paper reports the effects of a synthetic bone substitute and bone allograft on cortical bone repair in an experimental model. To test the hypothesis that bovine trabecular bone matrix, BBM, can enhance the repair rate of cortical bone, osteotomies were created in the rabbit fibula and filled with either allograft or BBM particulates or left empty as controls. At five weeks post-surgery, mechanical tests and histological evaluations were performed. No significant differences were observed in the mechanical properties of the healing bone in the three animal groups (n=6). Histologically, the medullary cavity was obstructed and the cross-sectional area ratio of the osteotomies to intact bone was approximately 3 : 1. Highly significant area differences were observed between the intact bone group and both the BBM and the allograft groups (p< 0.001). At the junction between the original bone and the newly formed bone, both woven and lamellar bone microstructures were prevalent. However, in the BBM filled defects, the woven bone microstructure was not ostentatious. It is concluded that failure to demonstrate significantly differences between the treatments were due to the small sample sizes and or the efficacy of the tensile analysis.