Fig. 5

Radiographic faxitron images of the diaphyseal drill hole defects in the left and right metacarpal and metatarsal bone (a-d). Defects are located at the interface of the second to third quarter of each bone. For the exact sample harvesting after the observation time of either 3 or 9 weeks a 2 mm screw was placed in a distance of 2 cm to the drill hole (a-d). Image c shows the left MT bone in which the proximal drill hole was left empty and the distal drill hole was filled with autologous cancellous bone graft 3 weeks after surgery. 9 weeks after surgery the distal defect was hardly visible (autologous cancellous bone graft) (d) whereas the proximal empty control defect is still remarkable (c-d)