Evaluating the relationship between microfractures and perfusion during osseointegration with intraoperative dynamic contrast-enhanced fluorescence imaging

In osseointegrated prosthesis surgery, implant failure is a significant complication caused by inadequate bone healing influenced by microfractures and decreased perfusion. Current perfusion assessment techniques are not capable to detect subtle damage that impacts healing. In this study, we employed dynamic contrast-enhanced fluorescent imaging (DCE-FI) to quantify changes in bone blood supply caused by osseointegration and correlated them with the extent of microfracturing at the bone-hardware interface detected with micro computed tomography. Performed experiments enable the translation of the developed technique to the second phase of the study: investigation of the optimal implant diameter relative to the inner diameter of the bone and intraoperative prediction of future implant failure after osseointegration in a longitudinal pre-clinical study.