The apposition of new bone to polished solid implants and to implants
with surfaces that had been blasted with one of three methods of
grit-blasting was studied in a rabbit intramedullary model to test the
hypothesis that blasted implant surfaces support osseous integration.
Intramedullary titanium-alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) plugs, press-fit into the distal
aspect of the femoral canal, were implanted bilaterally in fifty-six
rabbits. Four surface treatments were studied: polished (a surface
roughness of 0.4 to 0.6 micrometer) and blasted with stainless-steel shot
(a surface roughness of five to seven micrometers), with thirty-six-grit
aluminum oxide (a surface roughness of five to seven micrometers), or with
sixty-grit aluminum oxide (a surface roughness of three to five
micrometers). Localized attachment of new bone to the surfaces of the
blasted implants was present radiographically at twelve weeks. The total
bone area was significantly affected by the level of the section (the
diaphysis had a greater bone area than the proximal part of the metaphysis
and the proximal part of the metaphysis had a greater bone area than the
distal part of the metaphysis; p < 0.001) and the quadrant within each
section (the posterior and anterior quadrants had greater bone area than
the medial and lateral quadrants; p < 0.00001). The length of the
bone-implant interface was significantly affected by the surface treatment
(the length of the bone-implant interface for the implants that had been
blasted with sixty-grit aluminum oxide was greater than the length for the
polished implants; p = 0.02), the time after implantation (the interface
was longer at six and twelve weeks than at three weeks; p < 0.00001),
and the level of the section (the interface was longer at the diaphysis
than at the proximal part of the metaphysis and longer at the proximal part
of the metaphysis than at the distal part of the metaphysis; p = 0.004).
Blasting of the surface of titanium-alloy implants did not have an effect
on the area of bone formation around the implants, but it did significantly
affect the area of bone formation on the implant and the shear strength at
the bone-implant interface. The two effects were not necessarily parallel,
as significantly less (p < 0.05) bone formed on implants that had been
blasted with stainless-steel shot than on those blasted with aluminum grit,
whereas their interface shear strengths were similar.