Bone Grafting Research Paper

Bone, in the human body, performs a number of mechanical and physiological functions, including mechanical support, movement and protection of vital organs. It is a complex tissue that undergoes constant repair and remodelling to its micro-architecture caused as a result of biomechanical forces imparting trauma and homeostatic insults. [1]

The basic unit of bone is an osteon, which is made up of concentric lamellae of compact bone surrounded by a Haversian canal. There are two components to bone, cortical and trabecular. Cortical bone is dense and surrounds the marrow space, making up 80% of the skeleton. Trabecular or cancellous bone consists of plates and rods which are arranged in a honeycomb like interconnected network and interspersed
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1.2 Bone Grafting

Bone grafting is the procedure of using bone tissue to repair, restore, and remodel bone that may have been lost due to disease or trauma. A bone graft, however, does not need to be made only from human derived bone tissue. It is defined as any implanted material that promotes bone healing through osteogenesis, osteoinduction, or osteoconduction, by itself or when used in conjunction with other materials. [5, 6]

Bone grafts can be sorted into several categories; autografts, allografts, xenografts, synthetic grafts, and tissue engineered grafts. Each have their own distinct advantages and disadvantages and their application depends on factors such as defect size, shape, viability, handling, resorption rate, bioactive properties, composition, biomechanical properties, side effects, ethical issues, and cost. [5]

Clinically, bone grafts are mostly used as a means of fracture fixation, especially in spinal fusion, dental implant, and joint replacement surgery such as total knee and hip replacement surgery.

1.3
It is thought that the technique used to harvest grafts affects the number, activity, and viability of transplanted bone tissue. Experiments conducted on pig mandibles compared bone milling, bone drilling, bone scraping, and piezo surgery techniques. The results showed that cell viability and growth factor expression of bone morphogenetic proteins and vascular endothelial growth factors were higher in the bone milling and bone scraping samples compared to bone drilling and piezosurgery