A NEW TECHNIQUE: THE USE OF THE THIRD EYELID CARTILAGE AS A GRAFT MATERIAL IN JOINT DISEASES AND THE EFFECT OF ETHYL-2-CYANOACRVLATE ON THE FIXATION OF THE GREFT. EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES IN RABBITS

Destruction of the joint cartilage, a (issue free from blood vessels, is observed in the advancing stages of many joint diseases. Osteochondral allografts, autogenous osteochondral strip grafts, frozen osteochondral grafts, menisceal fibrocartilage grafts, perichondrium, periosteum, fetal membranes, mesenchymal cells and autologue chondrocyte transplantations are surgical treatment options used in the treatment of cartilage destructions. When a joint defect needs to be treated with graft application, the most suitable way is the use of an autogenous tissue presenting the characteristic of hyaline cartilage. The third eyelid which is found in all domestic animals, presents the characteristic of hyaline cartilage. The main approach to our study was formed by whether the cartilage of the third eyelid could be used as graft material in joint defects or not and the effect of ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate on the fixation of the greft. Cartilage defects formed experimentally in the stifle joints of rabbits were repaired by using third eyelid cartilage grafts. According to the results of the study, the third eyelid, cartilage was established to be a suitable graft. In the fixation of the graft to the defect, the tissue adhesive, ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate (E-2-C), was observed to be a sufficient fixation material.