Imagistic evaluation of matrix bone interface

The problematic elements of bone regenerative materials are represented by their quality control methods. The defects repaired by bone grafting material were evaluated by en face optical coherence tomography and by synchrotron radiation micro-CT. The images obtained by efOCT show defects in some of the investigated samples, at the bone interface with different osteoconductive bone substitutes and we were able to detect gaps as small as 50 μm. After the common synchrotron radiation micro-CT investigations, the slides were reconstructed and the 3D model was obtained. Along with the possibility of navigating inside the structure, one big advantage of this technique was pointed out: the remaining regenerative materials can be separated from the normal bone and the new bone can be visualized. Optical coherence tomography can be performed in vivo and can provide a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the bone augmentation procedure. © 2014 Copyright SPIE.