AUTHORS
Teng Zhang, Qingguang Wei, Hua Zhou, Zehao Jing, Xiaoguang Liu, Yufeng Zheng, Hong Cai, Feng Wei, Liang Jiang, Miao Yu, Yan Cheng, Daoyang Fan, Wenhao Zhou, Xinhong Lin, Huijie Leng, Jian Li, Xinyu Li, Caimei Wang, Yun Tian, Zhongjun Liu
ABSTRACT
Bone defect repairs are based on bone graft fusion or replacement. Current large bone defect treatments are inadequate and lack of reliable technology. Therefore, we aimed to investigate a simple technique using three-dimensional (3D)-printed individualized porous implants without any bone grafts, osteoinductive agents, or surface biofunctionalization to treat large bone defects, and systematically study its long-term therapeutic effects and osseointegration characteristics. Twenty-six patients with large bone defects caused by tumor, infection, or trauma received treatment with individualized porous implants; among them, three typical cases underwent a detailed study. Additionally, a large segmental femur defect sheep model was used to study the osseointegration characteristics. Immediate and long-term biomechanical stability was achieved, and the animal study revealed that the bone grew into the pores with gradual remodeling, resulting in a long-term mechanically stable implant-bone complex. Advantages of 3D-printed microporous implants for the repair of bone defects included 1) that the stabilization devices were immediately designed and constructed to achieve early postoperative mobility, and 2) that osseointegration between the host bone and implants was achieved without bone grafting. Our osseointegration method, in which the “implant-bone” interface fusion concept was used instead of “bone-bone” fusion, subverts the traditional idea of osseointegration.