A histological examination of spinal reconstruction using a frozen bone autograft
Fig 1
A. The L5 vertebral body is resected, along with the L4/5 and L5/L6 intervertebral discs, and a cage, filled with either a crushed non-treated fresh bone autograft or liquid nitrogen-treated bone autograft, is inserted into the site of the resected L5 vertebral body. Screws inserted into the vertebral bodies of L4 and L6 were connected to a titanium rod to fix the cage in situ by compression. B. Excised specimens showing the dorsal (a) and lateral (b) sides. C. Histological samples with Villanueva bone stain, showing (a) the reaction region, with osteocytes having a nucleus, a formed osteoid and an accumulation of osteoblasts on the surface of the osteoid and (b) the mature bone region, with the lamellar structure being visible. D. A schematic representation of the specimen, showing division of the area within the cage into 8 sections for analysis.