Treatment of the tibia complex diaphyseal fractures with coral porous hydroxyapatite HAP-200®

Abstract

Background:  tibia fracture produced by high energy mechanisms could provoke areas of defects leading to pseudoarthrosis or bone infection. Therefore, new alternatives are looked for to solve these bone defects, among them the usage of the biomaterial porous coral hydroxyapatite HAP-200® as scaffolding in the treatment of these complex fractures.
Aims: describing the efficacy of HAP-200® as scaffolding.
Materials and methods: a descriptive, longitudinal study was carried out, including the total of the patients attended by complex tibia fractures (13 patients), from January 1994 to 2010. They were treated with several materials of osteosyntheses and coral hydroxyapatite grafts as scaffolding in the bone defects area and evolutively evaluated in consultation during a period of 10 years. In the study, there they were used the classifications of the System Association for the Study of the Internal Fixation and the Gustilo and Anderson one in open fractures; and the System Association for the Study of the Internal Fixation and the Tscherne and Gotze one for the evaluation of the soft parts in closed fractures. A database was elaborated using the statistical packet SPSS 1.14, for fulfilling the planed aims. The informed consent of each patient was obtained.
Outcomes: 76.9 % of the cases dealt with male patients. Bone healing was achieved in 92.3 % of the patients. The healing period lasted an average of 16 weeks in closed fractures, and 20 weeks in the exposed ones.
Conclusions: the outcomes show the validity and importance of HAP-200® as bone conductor biomaterial.