No abstract

No abstract

Background: This study was designed to derive the theoretical formulae to predict the pullout strength of pedicle screws with an inconstant outer and/or inner diameter distribution (conical screws). For the transpedicular fixation, one of the failure modes is the screw loosening from the vertebral bone. Hence, various kinds of pedicle screws have been evaluated to measure the pullout strength using synthetic and cadaveric bone as specimens. In the literature, the Chapman's formula has been widely proposed to predict the pullout strength of screws with constant outer and inner diameters (cylindrical screws).

Vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) has an anabolic effect on the skeleton and reportedly enhances bone ingrowth. We used an in vivo critical bone defect model to determine whether local administration of DBP promotes bone defect healing. We created a 5-mm segmental bone defect in the radial shaft in a rat model. Forty-eight rats were assigned to eight groups: local application of 1 microg, 5 microg, 10 microg, or 50 microg DBP (DBP-1, DBP-5, DBP-10, DBP-50), autogenous bone marrow mononuclear cells with or without 10 microg DBP (BM-DBP-10, BM), 80 microg BMP-2 delivered in gelatin sponge (BMP-2), and the sham operated group. Radiographic evaluation, histological stains, and epifluorescence microscopy were performed. Grossly, all bone gaps of the BMP-2 group were solidly bridged by callus, while all those in the sham operated group remained unhealed by 9 weeks. Only one specimen of the BM-DBP-10 and DBP-50 groups and three specimens of the BM group were solidly healed; pseudarthroses occurred in all of the other specimens. Histological study and radiographs of the specimens showed similar results. We did not observe the enhanced bone healing reported in a previous study.