Resorbable ceramic implants

The purpose of the investigation was to show the ability of two calcium aluminate ceramic compositions to act as suitable implants for partial replacements of long bones. It was anticipated from previous studies that the ceramic would be well tolerated by the autogenous bone and surrounding soft tissue while the ceramic was slowly dissolving in the body fluids, allowing new osseous tissue to penetrate the resulting pore structure. It was expected that after a period of time the ceramic would no longer exist as a separate entity but would be completely infiltrated with mineralized osseous tissue and ultimately be completely replaced by bone. Two ceramic implants were prepared by slightly different techniques and CaO to Al2O3 ratios. The result was a polyphase ceramic and a nearly single phase ceramic. The polyphase material, after implantation in the test subject for 32 weeks, was completely impregnated with connective tissue while undergoing considerable alteration in microstructure. The single‐phase material was not altered significantly in any way. This implant could not be fully evaluated for its ability to allow for osseous tissue formation on its surface, or within its open pore structure, due to slight variations in the original fixation of the implant and resulting attempts to correct the problems.