Bone Ingrowth to Ti Fibre Knit Block with High Deformability

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Engineering
• Orthopedic Research
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Sintering is a common method for fabricating porous titanium implants.
• Developing non-sintered titanium structures offers potential advantages in manufacturing and material properties.
• Evaluating the in vivo performance of novel biomaterials is crucial for clinical translation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a non-sintered titanium (Ti) fibre knit block.
• To assess the deformability and new bone formation of these blocks in vivo.

Main Methods:

• Titanium fibre was knitted into mesh tubes and compressed to create blocks with varying porosities (88%, 69%, 50%).
• Mechanical properties (elastic modulus, deformability) were tested via compression.
• Blocks were implanted into rabbit bone defects for in vivo evaluation using micro-CT and histology.

Main Results:

• High-porosity (88%) blocks exhibited excellent deformability.
• All porosities showed an elastic modulus below 1 GPa, increasing with compression.
• 50% porosity blocks demonstrated near-complete pore filling with new bone by 4 weeks.
• 88% porosity blocks showed less bone fill (<50%) even at 12 weeks.

Conclusions:

• Non-sintered titanium fibre knit blocks with high porosity are suitable for bone defect filling.
• Compression-induced porosity reduction enhances bone ingrowth.
• These findings suggest potential for titanium fibre knit blocks in bone regeneration applications.