This research work tackles the challenge of developing an objective and reliable criterion to score porous bioceramic orbital implants with different microstructural characteristics. We produced porous glass-ceramics by the foam replica method and characterized their 3D micro-architecture through non-destructive X-ray micro-computed tomography. Six key features were estimated influencing their clinical performance, i.e. total porosity, pore interconnectivity, pore size distribution, surface-to-volume ratio, connectivity density and degree of anisotropy. Surface roughness was also characterized by profilometry. A multiparametric score accounting for all the estimated features was developed and used to evaluate the similarity between the produced porous bioceramics and commercial orbital implants. The clinical use of such a global score could make the selection of orbital implants less arbitrary and less dependent on the skills and personal experience of the ophthalmic surgeon. The approach presented in this study could be extended to other areas of ceramics science and technology.

这项研究工作解决了开发客观，可靠的标准来对具有不同微结构特征的多孔生物陶瓷轨道植入物评分的挑战。我们通过泡沫复制法生产了多孔玻璃陶瓷，并通过无损X射线微计算机断层扫描对它们的3D微结构进行了表征。估计有六个关键特征会影响其临床表现，即总孔隙率，孔隙互连性，孔径分布，表面积与体积之比，连通性密度和各向异性程度。表面粗糙度还通过轮廓测定法表征。开发了一个用于解释所有估计特征的多参数评分，并用于评估所生产的多孔生物陶瓷与商业眶植入物之间的相似性。这样的整体评分的临床使用可以使眼眶植入物的选择变得更少随意性，并且更少地取决于眼科医生的技能和个人经验。本研究中提出的方法可以扩展到陶瓷科学和技术的其他领域。