Biological behaviour of Bonelike® graft implanted in the tibia of humans

This paper reports the ability of Bonelike (R) to regenerate bone defected areas when implanted in the tibia of 3 patients (average age of 59 years) during a high tibial osteotomy (HTO) to treat medial compartment osteoarthritis of the knee. Bonelike (R) is a synthetic bone graft designed to mimic the inorganic composition of bone using a patent process that consists of liquid sintering hydroxyapatite in the presence of CaO-P2O5 based glass. The preliminary clinical evaluation performed showed that an intimate contact between new formed bone and Bonelike (R) was established (67 +/- 10%), with no fibrous interface. Therefore, Bonelike (R) is a single-handedly viable osteoconductive synthetic grafting material as it has been demonstrated from the profiles of radiological, histological and scanning electron microscopy analyses for the six months implantation period.