Bone formation in porous implants of delrin and commercially pure titanium

Clinicians have been using implants made by titanium or delrin with varying results. In this study dividable implants, bone growth chambers (BGC), of titanium and delrin were inserted into the rabbit tibia. The ingrowth of hard tissue into a canal in the implant was evaluated after 3 weeks by microradiography and numerically determined by computer analysis. Results showed that bone ingrowth into titanium implants was significantly larger than into delrin implants (P less than 0.005). The possible reasons for this are discussed.