title: Porous implants for knee joint meniscus reconstruction:  a preliminary study on the role of pore sizes in ingrowth and differentiation of fibrocartilage.
abstract: Implants with four different macropore sizes were implanted in the meniscus of 29 rabbits for assessment of ingrowth and differentiation of fibrocartilage.  Implant macropores were 50-90, 90-150, 150-250 and 250-500 mum, the vol.% macropores was 48-55 and total pore volume 84-86 vol.%.  Ingrowth was optimal in the two large pore implants whereas the small pore implants partially remained empty up to 1 year post-operative.  Capsule formation and the foreign body reaction was severe for the small pore implants whereas this occurred to a lesser extent in the two large pore implants. Fibrocartilage formation, as assessed by morphology and antibody labelling for type I and type II collagen, was observed in a similar way in all implant types.  It is concluded that for optimal ingrowth and incorporation of partial or total meniscal prosthesis, macropore sizes must be in the range of 150-500 mum.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klompmaker
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Veth
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: de Groot
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Pennings
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D007720:Knee Prosthesis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008422:Materials Testing; D008592:Menisci, Tibial / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery; D011140:Polyurethanes / Q000737:chemistry; D016062:Porosity; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D011817:Rabbits; D014945:Wound Healing