A dose of 48 Gy of X-irradiation given over two to five weeks after grafting caused no significant delay in the rate of healing and only a small and statistically non-significant decrease in the torsional strength of the graft-bone junction of either vascularised or non-vascularised bone grafts of the tibiae of rabbits. Healing was faster and the union between the graft and adjacent bone developed torsional strength significantly more rapidly with vascularised than with non-vascularised grafts. These findings suggest that postoperative radiotherapy is unlikely to have a significantly deleterious effect on the healing of bone grafts used to repair defects produced by excision of malignant bone tumours.

Five vascularised allografts of the knee joint were performed in dogs immunosuppressed with cyclosporin A and azathioprine. Three survived with normal function for 3 to 4 months after operation. One of the unsuccessful grafts had a failed vascular anastomosis, the other an inadequate blood level of cyclosporin A. All three successful grafts healed well. In two, bone scans, radiographs and biopsies were indistinguishable from successful autografts; in the third the blood supply to the graft failed despite patent anastomoses but the graft healed well with good function. All three grafts were rejected within 2 to 3 weeks of withdrawal of cyclosporin A and azathioprine. In non-immunosuppressed dogs, allografts of the knee, both vascularised and non-vascularised, were rejected within a few days of operation. In two non-vascularised allografts, administration of cyclosporin and azathioprine had no apparent effect on the rate of rejection of the graft.

A model was developed in the dog to allow both the metaphysis and epiphysis of the distal ulnar growth plate to be microsurgically revascularised from the pedicle of the anterior interosseous vessels. With both circulations revascularised, grafts retained their structural integrity and growth continued at rates only slightly less than normal (mean 85%). If either or both circulations were not revascularised, growth rates were lower and were associated with skeletal collapse in the ischaemic bone segment.

We investigated the feasibility in the dog of using transfers of the distal ulna into the radius either as growth plate replacements or as accessory growth plates in the diaphysis. Preliminary work determined the most satisfactory method of skeletal fixation. The experimental study showed that transfers used as growth plate replacements grew at almost normal rates, uniting with the recipient bone in a mean of 7.1 weeks. Transfers into the diaphysis initially nearly doubled the growth rate of the radius, although in the long-term results were unsatisfactory, because of fracture of the graft after a mean period of 8.2 weeks.

A cortical bone graft on a muscle pedicle was taken from the ulna and transferred to bridge a complete defect of the radius in 16 dogs. In 14 control dogs a free graft was used, that is, one without a muscle pedicle. Union in the group with pedicle grafts was far superior to that in the group with free grafts, mainly because in those with pedicle grafts there was good subperiosteal new bone formation from active viable periosteum. In six of the pedicle grafts the viability of some osteocytes was retained over a 12-week period and in five the graft was almost completely replaced by new bone.

A segment of tibia 4.5 centimetres long was removed from one hind limb of fifteen dogs. It was then replaced and the main vasculature was restored by a microsurgical technique. In eight controls the segment was replaced without such restoration. In two-thirds of the former cases the microvascular reconstruction was successful; the rate of infection was found to be reduced, bone union was guaranteed and the rate of union accelerated. Success or failure of the reconstruction was clearly demonstrated in five cases by early bone scanning using technetium-labelled polyphosphate.