Bone perforation and placement of collagen sponge facilitate bone augmentation

Bone perforation may induce bone marrow cell migration into a collagen sponge onlay implant. This study investigated the efficacy of bone perforation and collagen sponge onlay placement with regard to new bone formation.

One hundred sixty femurs of 80 Wistar male rats were used in four groups: bone perforation and sponge (PS) group: after perforating the femur, fibrillar and heat-denatured collagen (FC-HAC) sponges were placed on the femur; sponge (S) group: a FC-HAC sponge was placed directly on the femur without bone perforation; perforation (P) group: femur perforation without collagen sponge placement; and control (C) group: neither bone perforation nor sponge placement was used. Histologic and histomorphometric analyses were performed after the surgery.

Numerous osteoblastic and fibroblastic cells were seen during the early repopulation in and at the periphery of the sponge in the PS group. These cells were seen only at the periphery of the sponge in the S group. In the PS group, angiogenesis was noted frequently, and it exhibited significantly greater new bone area compared to the other groups at days 14 and 28.

The use of the FC-HAC sponge on the bone perforation area seemed to promote bone augmentation by possibly acting as a scaffold for the bone marrow cells as well as maintaining the space that is necessary for bone growth to occur.