Physeal Defect Model of Rabbit's Tibia : Conventional Curettage vs Box Osteotome Method / 대한정형외과연구학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: In many previous animal studies on cell therapy to the physeal defect, the defect was made by curetting the physeal cartilage with a scalpel, a syringe needle, or a curette. Authors questioned the validity of this method because it may be accompanied by the risk of incomplete removal of physis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight-week-old New Zealand White rabbits were used. In the scalpel group(n=32), a physeal defect was made on the medial half of the bilateral proximal tibiae by the conventional curettage method as previously described. In the box osteotome group (n=16), physis and adjoining eiphyseal and metphyseal bone segments were removed with a box osteotome and a motorized burr. RESULTS: Histological examination showed that, in the scalpel group, incomplete removal of physeal cartilage was observed in 14 of 38 (37%) tibiae sacrificed between Day 1 and 7, while all of the 20 (100%) in the box osteotome group showed complete removal of physeal cartilage. CONCLUSION: The results show the high risk of incomplete removal of physeal cartilage with the conventional curettage method. We believe that our method using a box osteotome and a motorized burr is better in terms of ease and validity in creating physeal defect.