Purpose: The experiment is part of a project aiming at creating a custom made tissue engineered bone implant for restoration of major oncologic bone defects of the head and neck. Before placing the bone implant in oncologic patients it is essential to conduct, among others, in vivo studies on animals.

Materials and methods: A CT scan of the planned operation area (dorsum) will be made in one rat. A virtual model of scapulas will be made. PLGA composite scaffold will be produced in 3D printing method. Porous titanium scaffolds will be prototyped. In tissue engineering lab all scaffolds will be colonized with rat stem cells. The rats will be divided into 3 groups: group 1 autogenous bone transplant; group 2 PLGA scaffold, group 3 porous titanium scaffold. Two stages of operation under general anaesthesia are planned. In the first stage, in all groups, a fascio-cutaneous flap will be prepared. A part of scapula will be grafted. In the second stage, bone defects will be replaced with the according material, and the tissue complex will be fixed to the scapula. Observations and X-ray controls will be held weekly. After 3 months postoperatively all rats will be decapitated, CT scans will be made and tissue material will be grafted for histological analysis.

Results: The presentation will encompass the up-to-date stages and achieved milestones of the research.

Conclusion: The experiment will enable us to assess macro-, microscopic and mechanical characteristics of bioactive oncologic reconstruction methods of hard tissue in the head and neck.

Conflict of interest: None declared.