Histological analysis of bone grafts fixed with ethyl‐cyanoacrylate and fixed with titanium screw: An experimental study on rats

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate, through qualitative and semi‐quantitative histological analysis, onlay autologous bone grafts fixed with ethyl‐cyanoacrylate adhesive and titanium screw, in order to verify whether the method of applying the adhesive would interfere with the graft incorporation.Fourteen rats underwent bone graft surgery: seven grafts were fixed with ethyl‐cyanoacrylate (SB group, n = 7) and seven grafts were fixed with titanium screws (TS group, n = 7). After 30 days, the grafts were histologically analysed for vitality, adhesive presence, tissue reaction with formation of osteoid matrix, bone resorption presence, capillaries formation, inflammatory infiltrate, fibroblastic proliferation, presence of osteoblasts, osteocytes and osteoclasts. The data were submitted to non‐parametric tests, Mann–Whitney, Fisher's Test, Wilcoxon and McNemar and to statistical analysis (p < 0.05).No significant differences were found in the qualitative evaluations. While findings of more osteocytes (p = 0.035) in the TS group in greater inflammation (p = 0.030) and more osteoclasts (p = 0.048) in the SB. Despite the fact that the titanium screw has presented bone neoformation with welding points, there was no complete incorporation and the adhesive affected the bone repair in a way that not even neoformation points could be seen in 30 days.The method of applying the adhesive did not show an advantage according to the histological aspects studied, as there was the formation of a dead space at the interface of the SB group and the adhesive acted as a barrier.