Treatment of screw hole defects using bone graft materials: a histologic and biomechanic study

We surgically applied compression plates, secured with cortical screws, to the anterolateral surface of each radius in 20 dogs. Five weeks later, the plates and screws were removed. The dogs were then divided into four groups of 5, and each group had the screw holes in the left radii filled with a different form of bone graft material. The screw holes in the right radii received no graft material and served as controls. Five weeks later the dogs were euthanized, and the radii were removed and torqued to failure. All bones failed through a previous screw hole. An analysis of variance comparing all grafted radii to the ungrafted controls revealed no significant difference in torque to failure. This suggests that both grafted and ungrafted screw holes still increase stress at 5 weeks, and any period of protection after plate removal should be longer than 5 weeks. However, histology revealed that the holes filled with graft material had, in every case, more bone in the screw holes than did the holes in the ungrafted controls.