Bone regeneration and periosteoplasty: a 250-year-long history

Since antiquity, many attempts have been carried out and a number of theories proposed to explain the process that leads to bone regeneration. Through manifold experiments, several authors tried to understand and subsequently to control the physiological events that enable bone healing. Between the 18th and 19th centuries something changed. Although the scientific world was initially skeptical, a new idea emerged in the field of bone surgery. It principally concerned the necessity to perform amputations and resections leaving intact the periosteum to obtain new bone formation.

With this article we emphasize the contribution of many authors in the development of knowledge about the osteogenic properties of the periosteum. In particular we focus on the experiences of unknown Italian authors Michele Troja and Bernardino Larghi, consider well-recognized scientific personalities such as Leopold Ollier and Bernhard von Langenbeck, and reach a milestone of plastic surgery with Tord Skoog and his description of periosteoplasty.

Various surgical approaches have been proposed to provide optimal care for patients with cleft lip and palate disorders. Among several treatment options, periosteoplasty is one of the choices to correct maxillary clefts. Highlighting difficulties and successes of many authors in demonstrating osteogenic properties of periosteum, this paper describes how periosteoplasty performed in maxillary cleft restoration capitalizes on what has been discovered during a 250-year-long history.