Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate the effects of different titanium surface treatments on blood clot extension (bce).
Methods: A total of 54 titanium disks with machined surface (M), laser-conditioned surface (L), and grit-blasted surface (S) were used in the present study. The surface characteristics such as contact angles and the microroughness were determined on each group (n = 4). To evaluate the bce, 0.1 mL of human blood was dropped onto the surface of each specimen and left for 7 minutes at room temperature. After fixation, dehydration, and gold sputtering treatments, the specimens were observed under scanning electron microscope. The bce values were expressed as percentage of specimen surface covered by blood clot.
Results: The surface roughness (Ra ± standard deviation [SD]) was 0.75 ± 0.02 μm for M, 0.25 ± 0.02 μm for L, and 1.30 ± 0.03 μm for S. The contact angles measured in static conditions (WCA ± SD) were 71 ± 5.4° for M, 107 ± 6.6° for L, and 91 ± 7.2° for S. Regarding the bce (bce ± SD) of M samples (65.5 ± 4.3%) was statistically lower compared with both L (83.4 ± 5.1%) and S samples (72.4 ± 4.7%) (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the L group showed the higher bce value.
Conclusion: The present results suggest that the laser-conditioned surface may increase the wettability and bce.