The purpose of this study was to examine if the application of custom-made porous titanium membranes combined with bone graft materials promotes exophytic bone formation in rabbit calvaria. For this purpose, round decorticated calvaria sites were created using a round carbide bur. In the control group, rectangular parallelepiped-shaped porous titanium membranes (RPTMs) were placed on the decorticated sites and fixed with metal pins. In the experimental groups, RPTMs were
filled with one of the following bone graft materials prior to fixing with metal pins: bovine bone mineral (BBM), demineralized freeze-dried human cortical bone (DFDB) or freeze-dried human cancellous bone (FDB). Animals were sacrificed at 8 and 12 weeks after surgery, and new bone formation was assessed by histomorphometric as well as statistical analysis. The results indicate
that at 8 and 12 weeks, all the experimental groups demonstrated exophytic bone formation. At 12 weeks, DFDB group revealed the most new bone formation (p<0.05) and resorption of grafted materials (p<0.05). On the basis of these findings, we conclude that RPTMs may be used as an augmentation membrane for guided bone regeneration and DFDB as an effective bone-inducing graft material.