Injection of Osteoblast Cells Accelerates Fracture Healing

Long bone fractures heal faster after injections of osteoblast cells--cultured from a patient's own bone marrow--into the fracture area, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Catholic University College of Medicine (Seoul, South Korea) conducted a multicenter, randomized, clinical study of osteoblast treatment in 64 patients who suffered from long-bone shaft (femur, tibia, radius, ulna, or humerus) between the ages of 15 and 65 years. Of these, 31 were randomly allocated to receive the treatment and 33 were left to heal normally as a control group. Patient selection was based on poor callus formation noted approximately six weeks after surgery. During fracture surgery approximately 3-5 mL of bone marrow was collected from the anterosuperior iliac spine, and approximately eight weeks after surgery, autologous cultured osteoblasts were injected into the fracture area of each of the experimental group patients.


The study results showed that the average sums of the increased amount of Callus Formation Score (CFS) in the experimental and control groups one and two months following osteoblast injection, were 9.3 and 6.2, respectively, which was statistically significant. No side effects caused by the osteoblast injection were detected during the clinical trial period. There was no statistical difference in the osteoblast injection response between the younger and older age groups. Adverse events and adverse drug reactions consisted of the usual postoperative findings after fracture treatment, and the adverse reaction rate between the two groups was not statistically different. The study was published on February 13, 2009, in the open access journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, a publication of BioMed Central.

"There was significantly more bone growth in the experimental group, compared to the control group. Autologous cultured osteoblast transplant is a safe and effective method for accelerating the rate of fracture healing,” said study coordinator Seok-Jung Kim, M.D., of the department of orthopedic surgery. "Although bone transplant remains the most effective method of bone union, osteoblast injections provide an alternative which can be performed under local anesthesia with no requirement for surgery.”

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Catholic University College of Medicine
BioMed Central