Fixation of experimental osteotomies of the distal femur in rabbits with bone cement and cyanoacrylate.

A distal femoral osteotomy was fixed with liquid cyanoacrylate and bone cement in 25 rabbits. Follow-up was done at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 weeks. The distal portion of each femur was removed, fixed in alcohol, embedded in methylmethacrylate, sawed to 80 micron thickness for OTC-fluorescence study and microradiography, and cut to 5-micron sections for histological analysis. Radiological and careful microscopic (OTC labeling, microradiographic, and histological) studies showed healing of the osteotomies during the first 6 weeks after operation. However, at 12 and 24 weeks' follow-up only four of ten osteotomies had healed. According to these observations it is obvious that fixation of an osteotomy of the cancellous bone with bone cement and cyanoacrylate does not provide sufficient stability for successful healing.