0044 - Long Term Behaviour of a High Density Collagen Bone Anchor

Introduction The concept of bone anchors constructed of High Density Collagen (HDC) was introduced at this meeting last year. The healing of tendon to bone in an animal model during the critical first six months was found to be equal to that produced with a standard metallic anchor. Collagen is being investigated as a material for making anchors to avoid the drawbacks of the materials in the current range of available anchors. Metallic anchors may permanently obscure radiological investigations and risk dangerous migration. Degradable synthetic polymeric orthopaedic devices can suffer unpredictable rates of hydrolysis, residual cysts and when used around joints may fragment causing locking symptoms. To realise the potential advantage of HDC as an anchor material, a demonstration of the long term degradation characteristics is required. This study presents the long term results of a study of HDC bone anchors in a loaded sheep patella tendon reconstruction model.