Cranial reossification with absorbable plates

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Lactosorb absorbable plates on bone healing across cranial bone defects in the rabbit skull. Tw o 10-mm diameter parietal skull defects were created in each of 20 rabbits. with one defect being placed on either side of the sagittal suture. In 10 rabbits, all absorbable plate was placed across both the inner and outer co rtices of the left defect, and in the other 10 rabbits, an absorbable plate was placed across the outer cortex only of the left defect. The right defe ct always served as the control side, with no plate being placed across it. Rabbits were killed an average of 25 weeks postoperatively. Areas of reoss ification in the experimental and control defects of each rabbit were then measured, examined histologically, and compared. Growth across defects span ned by one plate was also compared with growth across defects spanned by tw o places. Histologic and statistical analyses revealed no significant diffe rences in reossification between the control and experimental defects in ea ch animal and between the defects spanned by one versus two plates. This st udy suggests that these copolymer absorbable plates neither inhibit nor fac ilitate reossification across 10-mm diameter rabbit cranial defects.