HONG KONG – A totally allogeneic graft material that would eliminate the need for harvesting bone from patients has been produced. The experiment involved thirty-six critical size defects which were created in the bones of 18 rabbits. Two experimental groups of 12 defects each were grafted with demineralized bone matrix (DBMIM) alone and demineralized bone matrix mixed with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF+ DBMIM), respectively. The remaining 12 defects were left empty as controls, and sacrificed on days 14, 30 and 60. Two rabbits, with four defects, of each group were sacrificed on day 14, 30 and 60 post grafting. The defects were retrieved for histological evaluation and quantitative analysis.
No bone formed across the defect in the controls. The differences in the amount of new bone formation between experimental groups were significant especially 30 and 60 days post grafting (p<0.0001), which were 149% and 100% respectively. The authors concluded that VEGF+DBMIM powder is a promising graft material.
An author of the study, Prof. Bakr Rabie commented: “the significance of this work is to enrich commercially available bone matrix with an angiogenic mediator that makes it a potent bone-forming compound. Angiogensis or new blood vessel formation is critical to bone healing and growth. Therefore, whether the patient is young or old, a big part of the healing (bone induction) power can be added to the grafted material.”
Contacts:
• Dr Ricky Wong, University of Hong Kong. [email protected]
• For further information and copies of the full paper please e-mail: [email protected]
Please remember to credit the International Journal of Surgery as the source and to tell your readers that they can read its full text at www.journal-surgery.com
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