The Role of Intraoperative Bone Marrow Aspirate Stem Cell Concentration as a Bone Grafting Technique

Despite the recapitulative nature of bone, a large percentage of nonunions still occur. Many exogenous substances have been administered to aid in the arthrodesis process, yet few have proven efficacious relative to time and cost. With recent advancements in bone biology involving cellular and molecular signaling, it is now possible to selectively retain bone progenitor cells from a patient’s bone marrow. The commercially available product, Cellect Cellect selective cell retention device has gained attention for its fast and cost-effective intraoperative concentration of these bone progenitor cells from bone marrow aspirate. Application of this concentrate within a bone graft matrix of either tricalcium phosphate granules or demineralized bone matrix is a novel grafting technique that facilitates bony bridging of osseous defects.