Currently, the clinical use of this process is often associated with significant pain, stiffness and immobility resulting from the frames and wires, which must currently be used to control this process. We are currently developing fully implantable devices which can use the process of distraction osteogenesis to regenerate bone segments and lengthen limbs without these cumbersome and painful frames. Currently, most clinical bone graft procedures involve the harvest of bone from one site and transplantation to another. This subjects patients to additional surgery, blood loss, and pain. Similarly, several growth factors appear to have a significant positive effect on bone healing.
Many materials work well in small defects in rodent bones, but fail in larger animals.
Since one-half of all bone grafting materials are used for spinal fusions, our laboratory has developed a segmental canine posterior spinal fusion model that allows efficient and sensitive evaluation of composite graft materials for spinal fusion. This model has documented the failure of some composite materials, which were under consideration for clinical application. The development of safe and effective synthetic bone graft materials will have a dramatic impact in reducing the morbidity of bone grafting procedures for our patients in the near future. We believe that our ongoing work evaluating practical methods for optimizing the use of bone marrow derived cells harvested by simple needle aspiration will offer another a new powerful tool and result in more effective and less invasive advanced bone grafting procedures.