Percutaneous Bone Marrow Grafting of Fracture (an Experimental Study in Rabbits)

Since bone marrow has been shown to contain osteoprogenitor cells, an experiment was devised to test its effects when injected percutaneously into osteotomies sites in rabbit radii. In this experimental study, the osteogenicity and it's effect on early bone repair of bone marrow grafts were investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine whether bone marrow grafted percutaneously led to increased bone production or had any effect on the early healing of fractures. The parameters tested included, cross-sectional area of callus (XS), breaking load (BL), tensile strengh (TS) and callus volume (CV) at the fracture site. At two weeks postgrafting four parameters, specially callus volume, were significantly higher (0.001< P < 0.005) in grafted radii than in the contralateral saline controls. By four weeks all four parameters were significantly greater in the bone marrow grafted radii than in the contralateral saline controls. Serial radiographs and histology confirm this advanced fracture healing in the grafted bones. There were no differences between the external callus of BM (Bone marrow) and SC (Saline control) radii but the internal callus between the end of the cortical bone did show a difference between the two sides. The earlier and more abundant callus at the bone marrow grafted sites, was felt to provide earlier and greater stability, resulting in decreased early healing time when contrasted with the saline controls. Percutaneous bone marrow grafting is a simple semi-invasive technique that may have potential clinical application. Acta Medica Iranica, 41(1): 20-28; 2003