Grafting Using Injectable Calcium Sulfate in Bone Tumor Surgery: Comparison with Demineralized Bone Matrix-based Grafting

BACKGROUND Injectable calcium sulfate is a clinically proven osteoconductive biomaterial, and it is an injectable, resorbable and semi-structural bone graft material. The purpose of this study was to validate the clinical outcomes of injectable calcium sulfate (ICS) grafts as compared with those of a demineralized bone matrix (DBM)-based graft for filling in contained bony defects created by tumor surgery. METHODS Fifty-six patients (41 males and 15 females) with various bone tumors and who were surgically treated between September 2003 and October 2007 were included for this study. The patients were randomly allocated into two groups, and either an ICS graft (28 patients) or a DBM-based graft (28 patients) was implanted into each contained defect that was developed by the surgery. The radiographic outcomes were compared between the two groups and various clinical factors were included for the statistical analysis. RESULTS When one case with early postoperative pathologic fracture in the DBM group was excluded, the overall success rates of the ICS and DBM grafting were 85.7% (24/28) and 88.9% (24/27) (p > 0.05), respectively. The average time to complete healing was 17.3 weeks in the ICS group and 14.9 weeks in the DBM group (p > 0.05). Additionally, the ICS was completely resorbed within 3 months, except for one case. CONCLUSIONS Although the rate of resorption of ICS is a concern, the injectable calcium sulfate appears to be a comparable bone graft substitute for a DBM-based graft, with a lower cost, for the treatment of the bone defects created during surgery for various bone tumors.