Influence of cage design on interbody fusion in a sheep cervical spine model

Abstract

Compared with the tricortical bone graft, both cages showed significantly better distractive properties. The cylindrical cage demonstrated a significantly higher biomechanical stiffness and an accelerated interbody fusion compared with the box-design cage and the tricortical bone graft. The differences in bone matrix formation within both cages were the result of the significantly lower stress shielding on the bone graft by the cylinder-design cage.