A simplified model of wound healing III—the critical size defect in three dimensions

A critical size defect (CSD) is the diameter of a bone wound such that beyond that amount, complete calcification of the wound will not occur during the lifetime of the animal. Adam [1] recently developed a one-dimensional model of this phenomenon, and Arnold and Adam [2] addressed the CSD in a two-dimensional model. This paper extends the study of the CSD phenomenon to three dimensions. A model is introduced in which a spherical gouge or wound has removed the entire bone and tissue within the wound area. It transpires that the range of CSD sizes for a reasonable estimate of the critical size defect is from 0.4 cm up to 1.5 cm for the parameter values considered. More realistic estimates await the appropraite experimental data.