COMPARISON AMONG 3 DIFFERENT BIOCOATINGS FOR ORTHOPEDIC PROSTHESES - AN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL STUDY

One-hundred-eighty cylindrical monocortical titanium implants, 4mm dia meter and 12mm long, with three different coatings: fluorohydroxyapati te (group A), hydroxyapatite (group B), and titanium oxide (group C), all applied by vacuum plasma spray were bilaterally randomly implanted into the femurs and tibiae of twelve adult mongrel sheep. The sheep w ere divided into four groups (1, 2, 3 and 4) numbering three sheep eac h. Sheep of groups 1, 2 3 and 4 were euthanized at two weeks, one mont h, three and nine months after implantation, respectively. Biomechanic al and histomorphological analysis were performed. Extraction torque i ncreased over time in all groups until the nine months period. At all the studied periods, the bone-implant contact was higher in Groups A a nd B compared to Group C. However, only at nine months did this differ ence reach statistical significance (p < 0.005 comparing Groups A and B to C). The results of this study show that all the three coatings co uld be recommended for clinical applications.