Intramedullary implant of plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite coating: An interface study

An intramedullary implant model in the canine femora was developed to evaluate the mechanical and histological responses between cancellous bone and plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings (HACs) on Ti-6A1-4V implants, with 12- and 24-week follow-ups. HACs of different thicknesses were investigated. Results of the mechanical testings revealed that after 24 weeks of implantation, the mean shear strength (2.49 ± 0.12 MPa) of the 50 μm HACs was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of the 200 μm HACs (1.44 ± 0.19 MPa). However, using backscattered electron images (BEIs) throughout all the implant periods, no substantial histological variations in the extent of new bone apposition between the two HACs were observed. Occasionally, solution-mediated disintegration of the 50 μm HAC was found 24 weeks postimplantation. Histomorphometric studies from the BEIs demonstrated that for both HACs the percentage of the direct HAC-cancellous bone contact was approximately 50% at 12 weeks and 75% at 24 weeks. After the mechanical tests, the 200 μm HACs had fracture sites either inside the coating layers or at the HAC-titanium interfaces, which might explain why the mechanical performance of the 200 μm HACs was inferior to that of the 50 μm HACs even though both HACs had the same histological behaviors.