Titanium foam for bone tissue engineering

The authors of this chapter fabricated titanium foams with different structures for bone tissue engineering by the powder sintering method and the selective laser melting method. The advantages and disadvantages of each method as well as the structural characteristics and mechanical properties of the foams fabricated by each method are described based on their experience. These foams were implanted into rabbits or dogs before and after chemical and heat treatments for inducing bioactivity. The foams after the treatments exhibited osteoconduction as well as osteoinduction. These bioactive foams were successfully applied to a lumbar interbody fusion procedure in patients without the need for an autogenic bone graft.