OBJECTIVE: To study the treatment efficacy of vascularized periosteum graft and bone filling material for long bone defect. METHODS: Forty young and forty adult rabbits were divided into four groups respectively according to the bone filling materials. A 3 cm long segment was removed from the middle part of the rabbit radius to make a bone defect model. The periosteum was reserved and restored to set up a vascularized tubulate periosteum graft. On the left side, autogenous bone graft, decalcified allograft, tricalcium phosphate, and hydroxyapatite were used to fill in the bone defect respectively; on the right side, no bone filling material was used as controls. The repairing effect of bone defect was evaluated by roentogenography, biomechanical, and histological methods. RESULTS: In young rabbits, bone defects on both sides healed in the 6th week after operation. The bending strength of radius in the tricalcium phosphate group and in the hydroxyapatite group were lower in the 12th week and there was significant difference when compared with autogenous bone graft group, decalcified allograft group and control group (P lt; 0.05). The repairing mechanism included intramembranous and endochondral ossification, and intramembranous ossification was prevalent. In the adult rabbits, the repairing rates of bone defect were 50% in the autogenous bone graft group, 40% in the decalcified allograft group, 30% in the tricalcium phosphate group and in the hydroxyapatite group and 42.5% in the control group, respectively. CONCLUSION: In young rabbits, large bone defect can be repaired with vascularized tubulate periosteum graft with or without the combining use of bone filling materials. The bone filling material which will be substituted slowly is disadvantageous to the recovery of bone strength. In adult rabbits, vascularized tubulate periosteum graft combined with bone filling materials can not repair the large bone defect effectively.