Computed tomography densitometry of femoral defect healing after implantation of calcium phosphate bioceramics in rats

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the healing process of diaphyseal femoral bone defects of rats after implantation of osteoplastic material “easy-graft CRYSTAL” in their cavity The dynamics of reparative osteogenesis was evaluated by computed tomography and optical bone density was expressed in Hounsfield units. Starting from the 30 day of the experiment, emergence and radiological signs of subsequent bone tissue growth, and the gradual disappearance of the defect with simultaneous increase of absolute and relative density of regenerate were found. At 15–30 day, we found a clear visualisation of the defect due to the prevalence of maternal bone optical density (1766.5±38 HU and 1761.1±41 HU) over the optical density of the implantation site (1059.5±44 HU and 1354.9±46 HU). On the 60 day the defect disappeared through as the absolute osteoplastic material density of the implantation site (1668.1±53 HU) approached that of the maternal bone (1788.8±29 HU). On the 120 day of the experiment, the regenerate optical density (1883.5±28 HU) exceeded the absolute optical density of the maternal bone (1792.2±56 HU) with simultaneous absence of full recovery of the original shape of bone and rarefaction of the maternal bone throughout the term of the experiment.