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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jan 3.
Published in final edited form as: Bone. 2008 Jul 14;43(5):931–940. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2008.06.019

Table 2.

Guide for quantitative histological analysis.

Hard tissue response at bone-scaffold Interface

Description Score
Direct bone to implant contact without soft tissue interlayer 4
Remodeling lacuna with osteoblasts and/or osteoclasts at surface 3
Majority of implant is surrounded by fibrous tissue capsule 2
Unorganized fibrous tissue (majority of tissue is not arranged as a capsule) 1
Inflammation marked by an abundance of inflammatory cells and poorly organized tissue 0

Hard tissue response within the pores of the scaffold
Description Score

Tissue in pores is mostly bone 4
Tissue in pores consists of some bone with mature, dense fibrous tissue and/or a few inflammatory response elements 3
Tissue in pores is mostly immature fibrous tissue (with or without bone) with blood vessels and young fibroblasts invading the space with few macrophages present 2
Tissue in pores consists mostly of inflammatory cells and connective tissue components in between (with or without bone) OR the majority of the pores are empty or filled with fluid 1
Tissue in pores is dense and exclusively of inflammatory type (no bone present) 0

Extent of bone formation within the defect
Description Score

75–100% of defect consists of bone 4
50–74% of defect consists of bone 3
25–49% of defect consists of bone 2
1–24% of defect consists of bone 1