Figures & data
Figure 1. Screw fixation for medial tibial plateau fracture after anatomical reduction (right knee joint). The yellow arrow indicates the osteotomy line. The knee joint is shown in anterior view.
Figure 2. The cellular proliferation occurred in the marrow inter-trabecular space and on the surface of pre-existing trabeculae. The shape of the cells was spindle-like or polygon-like, and they retained the appearance of mesenchymal cells (Giemsa stain, 200× magnification).
Figure 3. Histological features of the fracture site on postoperative day 5. The cellular proliferation kept increasing and formed the primary woven bone. Goldner staining (B) showed that there was a large amount of osteoid around the primary woven bone. Von Kossa staining (C) showed that deposition of calcium began on the osteoid and primary woven bone. (A Giemsa stain. Upper row 16×, middle row 50×, and lower row 200× magnification).
Figure 4. 2 different patterns of new bone formation. A. One occurred on the surface of pre-existing trabeculae to form the lamellar bone directly (Giemsa stain, 200× magnification). B. The other occurred at the inter-trabecular marrow, like a “map” with a high number of cells inside the new-formed woven bone (Goldner stain, 200× magnification).
Figure 5. Histological features of the fracture site at postoperative week 2. The new-formed trabeculae were larger than at the previous time point because of the lamellar bone formation. (Upper row 16x and low row 50× magnification. A Giemsa, B Goldner, and C von Kossa stain).
Figure 6. Histological features of the fracture site at postoperative week 3 (Giemsa stain, 50× magnification). The cell proliferation had finished. Most of the new-formed trabeculae had transformed into lamellar structures. The newly formed bone tissue could be distinguished from the original bone tissue due to the cell density, the cell size, and the orientation of the matrix.
Table 1. The structural parameters of trabecular bones measured by histomorphometry