Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society
-
To investigate the source of osteoprogenitor cells responsible for heterotopic ossification (HO) following total hip arthroplasty in an animal model. ⋯ Although both have some beneficial effect, our results demonstrate that irradiation of the femoral canal is significantly more effective than irradiation of the hip joint and abductor musculature for heterotopic ossification prophylaxis. This suggests that osteoprogenitor cells responsible for heterotopic ossification originate from both the hip abductors and the femoral canal, but the data provide indirect evidence that the femoral canal may be a more dominant source of these cells in the rabbit model.