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Osteointegration in Cranial Bone Reconstruction: A Goal toAchieve

Background The number of cranioplasty procedures is steadily increasing, mainly due togrowing indications for decompressive procedures following trauma, tumor ormalformations. Although autologous bone is still considered the goldstandard for bone replacement in skull, there is an urgent need forsynt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied biomaterials & functional materials 2016-06, Vol.14 (4), p.470-476
Main Authors: Sprio Simone, Fricia Marco, Maddalena, Giuseppe F, Nataloni Angelo, Tampieri, Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Background The number of cranioplasty procedures is steadily increasing, mainly due togrowing indications for decompressive procedures following trauma, tumor ormalformations. Although autologous bone is still considered the goldstandard for bone replacement in skull, there is an urgent need forsynthetic porous implants able to guide bone regeneration and stablereconstruction of the defect. In this respect, hydroxyapatite scaffolds withhighly porous architecture are very promising materials, due to theexcellent biocompatibility and intrinsic osteogenic and osteoconductiveproperties that enable deep bone penetration in the scaffold and excellentosteointegration. Osteointegration is here highlighted as a key aspect forthe early recovery of bone-like biomechanical performance, for whichcustom-made porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds play a major role. There arestill very few cases documenting the clinical performance of porousscaffolds following cranioplasty. Methods This paper reports 2 clinical cases where large cranial defects were repairedby the aid of porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds with customized shapes and 3Dprofiles (Fin-Ceramica, Faenza, Italy). Results In the long term (i.e., after 2 years), these scaffolds yielded extensiveosteointegration through formation and penetration of new organizedbone. Conclusions These results confirm that porous hydroxyapatite scaffolds, uniquelypossessing chemico-physical and morphological/mechanical properties veryclose to those of bone, can be considered as a tool to provide effectivebone regeneration in large cranial bone defects. Moreover, they maypotentially prevent most of the postsurgical drawbacks related to the use ofmetal or plastic implants.
ISSN:2280-8000
DOI:10.5301/jabfm.5000293