• Roberto Vélez, Alberto Hernández-Fernández, Marta Caminal, Joaquim Vives, Francisco Soldado, Alejandro Fernández, Arnau Pla, and Marius Aguirre.
• Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Hospital Universitario Vall d´Hebron, Pg Vall d'Hebron 129-139, 08035, Barcelona, Spain. robertovelez1@gmail.com
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2012 Nov 1;132(11):1611-8.

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of core decompression associated with advanced cell therapy for the treatment of femoral head osteonecrosis in an established sheep model.MethodsEarly stage osteonecrosis of the right hip was induced cryogenically in 15 mature sheep. At 6 weeks, the sheep were divided into three groups, Group A: core decompression only; Group B: core decompression followed by implantation of an acellular bone matrix scaffold; Group C: core decompression followed by implantation of a cultured BMSC loaded bone matrix scaffold. At 12 weeks, MRI hip studies were performed and then the proximal femur was harvested for histological analysis.ResultsIn the group of advanced cell therapy, Group C, there was a tendency to higher values of the relative surface of newly formed bone with a mean of 20.3 versus 11.27 % in Group A and 13.04 % in Group B but it was not statistically significant. However, the mean relative volume of immature osteoid was 8.6 % in Group A, 14.97 in Group B, and 53.49 % in Group C (p < 0.05), revealing a greater capacity of osteoid production in the sheep treated with BMSCs. MRI findings were not conclusive due to constant bone edema artifact in all cases.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that a BMCSs loaded bone matrix scaffold is capable of stimulating bone regeneration more effectively than isolated core decompression or in association with an acellular scaffold in a preclinical femoral head osteonecrosis model in sheep.

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