Objective

Cartilage repair strategies have seen improvement in recent years, especially with the use of scaffolds that serve as a template for cartilage formation. However, current fixation strategies are inconsistent with regards to retention, may be technically challenging, or may damage adjacent tissues or the implant itself. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate the retention and repair potential of cartilage scaffolds fixed with an easy-to-implement bioresorbable pin.

Design

Electrospun hyaluronic acid scaffolds were implanted into trochlear groove defects in 3 juvenile and 3 adult pigs to evaluate short-term retention (2 weeks; pin fixation vs. press-fit and fibrin fixation) and long-term repair (8 months; scaffold vs. microfracture), respectively.

Results

For the retention study, press-fit and fibrin fixation resulted in short-term scaffold dislodgment (n = 2 each), whereas pin fixation retained all scaffolds that were implanted (n = 6). Pin fixation did not cause any damage to the opposing patellar surface, and only minor changes in the subchondral bone were observed. For long-term repair, no differences were observed between microfracture and scaffold groups, in terms of second-look arthroscopy and indentation testing. On closer visualization with micro computed tomography and histology, a high degree of variability was observed between animals with regard to subchondral bone changes and cartilage repair quality, yet each Scaffold repair displayed similar properties to its matched microfracture control.

Conclusions

In this study, pin fixation did not cause adverse events in either the short- or the long-term relative to controls, indicating that pin fixation successfully retained scaffolds within defects without inhibiting repair.

中文翻译：

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在猪软骨缺损模型中增强支架保持力的可吸收销

客观的

近年来，软骨修复策略有所改进，特别是使用支架作为软骨形成的模板。然而，目前的固定策略在保留方面不一致，可能在技术上具有挑战性，或者可能会损坏邻近组织或植入物本身。因此，本研究的目的是评估用易于实施的生物可吸收针固定的软骨支架的保留和修复潜力。

设计

将电纺透明质酸支架植入 3 头幼猪和 3 头成年猪的滑车沟缺损处，以评估短期保留（2 周；针固定与压配合和纤维蛋白固定）和长期修复（8 个月；支架与固定）。微裂缝），分别。

结果

对于保留研究，压配和纤维蛋白固定导致短期支架移位（每个n = 2），而针固定保留了所有植入的支架（n = 6）。销钉固定不会对相对的髌骨表面造成任何损伤，并且仅观察到软骨下骨的微小变化。对于长期修复，在二次关节镜检查和压痕测试方面，微骨折组和支架组之间没有观察到差异。在通过显微计算机断层扫描和组织学进行更仔细的可视化后，观察到动物之间在软骨下骨变化和软骨修复质量方面的高度可变性，但每个支架修复都显示出与其匹配的微骨折控制相似的特性。

结论

在这项研究中，与对照组相比，针固定不会导致短期或长期的不良事件，这表明针固定成功地将支架保留在缺陷内而不抑制修复。