Efficacy of autograft and freeze-dried allograft to enhance fixation of porous coated implants in the presence of interface gaps.

Autogenous cancellous bone and freeze-dried allogeneic cancellous bone were tested in a total of 41 adult male mongrel dogs. In each humerus, an implant with a commercially pure titanium fiber metal porous coating was placed in an overreamed cavity so that a uniform 3-mm gap was present between the implant and host cancellous bone. Graft material was placed in the gap of one humerus while the gap of the other humerus was left empty and served as a paired negative control. Histologically, both autograft and allograft appeared to aid repair of the defect, but quantitatively only autograft enhanced new bone formation within the defect. Treatment with autograft significantly increased the amount of bone ingrowth within the implants by nearly three-fold at 4 weeks and eight-fold at 8 weeks. The enhancing effect was recognizable as early as 2 weeks. The strength of fixation was increased by nearly seven-fold at 4 weeks and two-fold at 8 weeks in the autograft group, but this was only statistically significant at 4 weeks. Treatment with allograft did not enhance bone ingrowth at any time period, but had a small positive effect on strength of fixation at 4 weeks.