Vascular endothelial growth factor augments the healing of demineralized bone matrix grafts

Aim: To produce a totally allogeneic graft material that would eliminate the need for harvesting the autogenous bone from patients. Materials and methods: Thirty-six (10 × 5 mm) defects were created in the parietal bones of 18 rabbits. Two experimental groups of 12 defects each were grafted with DBMIM alone and VEGF + DBMIM, respectively. The remaining 12 defects were left empty as controls, and sacrificed on days 14, 30 and 60. Two rabbits, with four defects, of each group were sacrificed on day 14, 30 and 60 post grafting. The defects were retrieved for histological evaluation and quantitative analysis. Results: No bone formed across the defect in the controls. The difference in the amount of new bone formation between experimental groups was significant especially 30 and 60 days post grafting (p < 0.0001), which were 149% and 100% respectively. Conclusion: VEGF + DBMIM powder is a promising graft material, and warrants further clinical investigation. © 2006 Surgical Associates Ltd.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Pathology of bone metastasis

Bone metastases are a frequent complication of advanced cancer. Interactions between cancer cells and marrow stromal cells and bone turnover mechanisms are crucial in metastases growth and the pathogenesis of bone damage. Metastatic tumour cells stimulate the bone remodelling and indirectly induce the osteocytes to release several growth factors that promote the proliferation of stromal, haematopoietic and neoplastic cells in a sort of vicious circle. Histological examination of bone metastasis of known origin is performed usually to define prognostic and/or predictive markers for target cancer therapy; in the 10–30% of patients in which the primary tumour is not identified, the histologic findings derived from bone biopsy could be diagnostic by morphological or immunohistochemical assessment of the neoplastic tissue