Open bone grafting combined with vacuum-assisted closure for the treatment of infected nonunion in rabbits

Abstract

Objective To investing surgical results of one stage open bone grafting combined with vacuum-assisted closure for the treatment of infected nonunion in rabbit model.Methods Thirty-six New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into groups A and B,and infected nonunion models were made in all of the animals.The rabbits in group A were treated with one stage open bone grafting combined with vacuum-assisted closure,and those in group B given two stage open bone grafting combined with vacuumassisted closure.At 2nd,4th,and 8th week,X-ray examination was done,at the same time,the rate of fracture healing and wound healing were counted.Results After two weeks,the number of fracture healing was 10 and wound healing was 6 in group A,and the number of fracture healing was 14 and wound healing was 12 in group B.After four weeks,the number of fracture healing was 16 and wound healing was 13 in group A,and the number of fracture healing was 18 and wound healing was 17 in group B.After eight weeks,the number of infected animals was 3,fracture healing was 18 and wound healing was 17 in group A,and the number of infected animals was 1,fracture healing was 18 and wound healing was 18 in group B.There was no significant difference in the rate of fracture healing and wound healing (P ＞ 0.05),and the nonunions in two group were clinically healed,but the healing time in group A was shorter than in group B.Conclusion One stage open bone grafting combined with vacuum-assisted closure is a simple and effective surgical method to treat the infected nonunion,as the same effect as traditional surgical staging,but the treatment duration is shorter. Key words: Infected nonunion; Open bone grafting; Vacuum-assisted closure