Comparison of the effects of different osteotomy methods on union of rat femurs

Objective: Osteotomy is a frequently used surgical procedure in orthopedics, such as trauma and deformity surgery. Different osteotomy methods may have effects such as infection and heat necrosis, and these factors may affect the bone healing process. In this study, radiological, histopathological and biomechanical effects on bone healing were evaluated after osteotomy (surgical saw, gigli wire, osteotom after surgical drill) performed with different methods in the rat femur. Materials and Methods: In this study, femoral osteotomy was performed on 54 Wistar-Albino male rats, 2,5 months old and weighing 250 grams, using three different methods, using a gigli wire, saw and drill+osteotome. They were divided into 3 groups as gigli group (group1, n:18), saw group (group2, n:18), and diril+osteotome group (group3, n:18). All groups were sacrificed on the 15th, 30th and 45th days and divided into 9 subgroups consisting of 6 rats to be evaluated radiologically, histopathologically and biomechanically. Animals were monitored in the cage with controlled temperature (23-25°C) and a 12:12 hour light/dark cycle. The scoring suggested by Lane and Sandhu was used for radiological evaluation, and the scoring recommended by Hue et al. for histopathological evaluation. Biomechanical evaluation was compared with the measurements (Newtons) made on the BESMAK BMT-E series material testing device (Besmak, Ankara, Turkey). Results: No significant difference was observed between the 15th and 45th day radiological scoring distributions of the gigli, saw and drill+osteotome groups (p=0.393,p=0.758), but a significant difference was observed between the 30th day radiological scoring distributions (p=0.001). The disappearance of the fracture line was found to be higher in the drill+osteotome group than in the gigli and saw groups. No significant difference was observed between the histopathological values of the Gigli, saw and drill+osteotome groups at the 15th, 30th and 45th days (p=0.719,p=0.097,p=0.352). A significant difference was observed between the 30th day biomechanical values of the gigli, saw and drill+osteotome groups (p=0.013). The biomechanical values of the gigli group were found to be significantly lower than the biomechanical values of the saw and drill+osteotome groups (p=0.026, p=0.006). No significant difference was observed between the biomechanical values of the saw and drill+osteotome groups (p=0.810). No significant difference was observed between the biomechanical values of gigli, saw and drill+osteotome groups at 45th day (p=0.773) Conclusions: Radiologically, better bone healing is provided in the early period after osteotomy with drill+osteotome. In addition, osteotomy with gigli wire is biomechanically weaker than osteotomy made with saw or drill+osteotome in the early period.