[Bone transplantation--indications and technic]

Autogenous spongiosa or, in osteoplastic surgery, autogenous corticospongious bones are considered as substance of choice for the surgical transposition of missing bones, to strengthen bones with insufficient loading capacity, and for a biological activation of atrophic bones. Even deep-freeze allogenous spongiosa can be inserted into a sterile, stable implantation site able to absorb the spongiosa to a large extent. The success will be delayed, but in the end a good functional result will be achieved with this method. In case of such an optimum implantation site, a comparable therapeutic effect can also be obtained with osteoinductive ceramics which can be modified with respect to their osteoinduction and loading capacity, both values showing a reciprocal ratio. Xenogenous bone grafts are no longer applied. A clinical example is presented in order to describe some criteria for the choice of a suitable transplant and to give some practical indications for its therapeutic application.