Survival and regeneration of deep-freeze preserved autologous cranial bones after cranioplasty

Abstract

Background. After decompressive craniectomy, a deep-freeze-preserved autologous cranial bone graft can be used for cranioplasty to avoid immunoreaction against an artificial patch material. Autologous cranial bone grafts not only have better physical properties, such as heat conduction, compared to artificial patch materials, but they also have the advantages of a lower medical cost and satisfactory physical flexibility. The discussion over 99Tcm-MDP SPECT static cranial bone tomography in the diagnosis of survival and regeneration in deep-freeze preservation autologous cranial bones after cranioplasty is valuable. Objective. To investigate whether deep-freeze-preserved autologous cranial bone grafts could survive and regenerate after autologous reimplantation. Methods. The method of cranial bone preservation involved removing the cranial graft and sealing it in a double-layer sterile plastic bag under sterile surgical conditions. On the day of the cranioplasty operation, the cranial bone graft was disinfected by immersing it in 3% povidone–iodine for 30 minutes. At short-term (2 weeks), medium-term (3 months), and long-term (12 months) postoperative follow-up visits, 99Tcm-MDP SPECT static cranial bone tomography was used to examine the reimplanted cranial bone. Results. There were no postoperative infections or seromas in all 16 cases. Two weeks following cranial bone graft reimplantation, the SPECT tomography showed some radioactivity uptake in the reimplanted cranial bone graft, which was lower than that in the cranial bone on the healthy side. At 3 months and 12 months after the operation, the radioactivity uptake in the reimplanted cranial bone graft was the same as that in the cranial bone on the healthy side. X-ray films showed blurred sutures in the reimplanted cranial bone graft at 12 months after surgery. Conclusion. Reimplanted deep-freeze-preserved autologous cranial bone can survive in the short term and regenerate in the medium and long terms.