Using microvascular anastomoses of artery and vein, bone grafts with
vascular pedicles from the rib were transferred to inlay and bridge defects
in the femora of forty-two dogs. The osteocytes of the pedicle graft were
not affected, and neither necrosis nor creeping substitution occurred in
the grafted bone. The pedicle bone grafts united to the recipient bed
earlier than did the non-pedicle bone grafts, and the rate of non-union of
the pedicle bone grafts was lower than that of the non-pedicle grafts.