Revascularization and new bone formation in heat-treated bone grafts

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is one of the possible serious complications associated with bone allografts. In order to prevent infection, grafted bone is sterilized by various treatments. Heat treatment has attracted attention as a simple and practical method. We carried out a histological study of the influence of heat treatment on autogenic bone grafts. To eliminate the problem of antigenicity of grafted bone, we used autografts, not allografts. Three types of heat-treated autografts were employed: heat-treated at 60° C for 30 min, at 80° C for 10 min, and at 100° C for 5 min; as a control, fresh autografts were replaced in the rabbits’ ilium. One, 2, 4 and 8 weeks after grafting, we performed microangiography and prepared two types of samples: transparent and haematoxylin-eosin (H & E) stained. Then, using an image analyzer, we quantitatively measured revascularization and new bone formation in the grafted bone. The grafts heat-treated at 60° C showed early and good revascularization and new bone formation, from 1 to 8 weeks. The grafts heat-treated at 80° C showed relatively good revascularization and new bone formation. However, the grafts heat-treated at 100° C showed unsatisfactory revascularization and bone formation, less than 40% of control 8 weeks after grafting. Therefore, heat treatment at 60–80° C does not seriously affect revascularization and new bone formation. Received: 3 June 1997