Effect of total body irradiation on peri-implant tissue reaction: an experimental study

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the osseointegration process u nder total body irradiation conditions (LD 50/30). Twenty Wistar rats (mean body weight: 90 g) were used. Under ethyl urethane intraperitoneal anesthe sia (1 g/kg body weight), the animals were irradiated with a single 700 cGy dose (linear accelerator 6 Mev photons). Four days post irradiation, a tit anium laminar implant was placed in the left tibia of each rat. Antibiotic therapy (ceftriaxone) was administered daily post implantation, to prevent infection by radiation. Fourteen days post implantation, the animals were k illed by ether overdose. The tibiae were resected, radiographed and process ed for embedding in methyl methacrylate. The results showed impaired osteog enesis and absence of osseointegration in experimental tibiae. This could b e due to a direct action of total body irradiation on osteogenesis precurso r cells. This effect would impair bone formation involved in peri-implant o sseointegration processes in this experimental model.