Evaluation of bone substitute materials: comparison of flat-panel based volume CT to conventional multidetector CT

Over the last decade tissue engineering has emerged as a key factor in bone regeneration within the field of cranio-maxillofacial surgery. Despite this in vivo analysis of tissue-engineered-constructs to monitor bone rehabilitation are difficult to conduct. Novel high-resolving flat-panel based volume CTs (fp-VCT) are increasingly used for imaging bone structures. This study compares the potential value of novel fp-VCT with conventional multidetector CT (MDCT) based on a sheep sinus floor elevation model. Calcium-hydroxyapatite reinforced collagen scaffolds were populated with autologous osteoblasts and implanted into sheep maxillary sinus. After 8, 16 and 24 weeks MDCT and fp-VCT scans were performed to investigate the volume of the augmented area; densities of cancellous and compact bone were assessed as comparative values. fp-VCT imaging resulted in higher spatial resolution, which was advantageous when separating closely related anatomical structures (i.e. trabecular and compact bone, biomaterials). Fp-VCT facilitated imaging of alterations occurring in test specimens over time. fp-VCTs therefore displayed high volume coverage, dynamic imaging potential and superior performance when investigating superfine bone structures and bone remodelling of biomaterials. Thus, fp-VCTs may be a suitable instrument for intraoperative imaging and future in vivo tissue-engineering studies.