Tricalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite ceramics in the surgery of bone tumors: preliminary results.

The authors report their preliminary experience in the use of substitutive bone compounds in order to fill the bone cavity after curettage. The material used is constituted by a biphasic compound, made up of tricalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite. Twenty-one patients were submitted to surgery because of the presence of a benign or low-grade malignant tumor. After removing the neoplastic tissue the residual cavity was filled with: tricalcium phosphate/hydroxyapatite (5 cases); tricalcium phosphate/hydroxyapatite plus autogenous bone (8 cases); tricalcium phosphate/hydroxyapatite plus bone allografts (8 cases). A radiological evaluation obtained 12 months after treatment showed that the incorporation of the compound in granular form was nearly complete in most of the cases, while the blocks revealed partial remodelling which was more evident in the angles. Finally, bone resorption in the site of the compounds used was not observed.