Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. The evolution of bone tissue quantity and quality in contact with the surface of orthopedic and dental implants is a strong determinant of the surgical outcome but remains difficult to be assessed quantitatively.
The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of a quantitative ultrasound QUS method to measure bone-implant interface BII properties. The implants were inserted in rabbit femurs and tibiae for 7 or 13 weeks. The ultrasonic response of the BII was measured ex vivo, leading to the determination of the 2-D spatial variations of bone in contact with the implant surface.
Histological analysis was carried out to determine the bone-implant contact BIC ratio. Endosseous cementless implants are widely employed in orthopedic, maxillofacial and dental surgery 1. Despite a routine clinical use 2 , 3 , failures of implant osseointegration still occur and may have dramatic consequences leading to pain, additional surgeries and important additional costs.
Implant stability is a strong determinant of the surgical success 4. Immediately after the surgery, the primary stability of an implant mainly depends on its design, on the surgical procedure and on the bone properties at the implantation site. Because of the damages caused during the implantation surgery, bone tissue surrounding the implant is first resorbed 5. Secondary implant stability relies on the quantity and quality of bone in contact with the implant surface, ensuring the long-term stability and surgical success 8.
The implant surface roughness is known to affect primary and secondary implant stability since rough surfaces both increase the friction coefficient at the BII thus reducing micromotion just after surgery, and increase the specific surface area, thus enhancing osseointegration 9. Assessing primary and secondary implant stability is difficult due to the complex and multiscale nature of the bone properties, their constant evolution through remodelling 10 and the inhomogeneous implant surface roughness, which complicates the problem from a biomechanical point of view.
