Experimental osteosynthesis with liquid ethyl cyanacrylate polymerized with ultrasound.

Ethyl cyanacrylate (Cyacrine) was used as bone cement in osteosynthesis of experimental osteotomies. The osteotomies were produced in the scapulas of rabbits by detaching a rectangular fragment with an ultrasonic bone saw. The control osteotomies were immobilized by steel wire fixation. The control fragments united uneventfully. The experimental osteotomies were fixed with a mixture of bone chips and liquid Cyacrine, polymerized in situ with ultrasound. No adjunctive fixation was used. Stable fixation was difficult to obtain. Further, healing of the osteotomies consistently failed because of inhibited new bone formation on surfaces in contact with Cyacrine. Cyacrine also provoked a prolonged inflammatory reaction with round cell and macrophage infiltration in the region of the osteosynthesis.