Influence of various structure treatments on histological fixation of titanium implants

In this study, three types of titanium test pieces were manufactured with different surfaces and implanted into dog femoral condyles, and tissue response was assessed histologically and radiographically for 24 weeks thereafter. The study confirmed that thickening of lamellar bone could be observed around titanium plasma spray-coated titanium alloy implants 24 weeks after implantation, whereas thick fibrous tissue surrounded by corticalized bone formed around those made of smooth-sided titanium alloy. With an implant made of an artificial osteochondral composite material, thickening of ingrown trabeculae could be observed as early as 4 weeks, and abundant bone growth into the titanium fiber mesh continued to increased with time. This bone ingrowth resulted in the complete integration of this composite device implant and the host bone. Our findings suggest that cell response to the various implants is quite different, even though the implants were made of the same kind of material. The implants with the open-pore structure has great significance in the ideal fixation between the implants and the viable bone.