Synthetic Bone Material Shows Promise in Spinal Fusion

Preliminary results from three ongoing studies in Europe and the United States show that patients who received a synthetic bone void filler material called Vitoss in a spinal fusion procedure have progressed successfully to a solid fusion at the three-to-six month followup.

The study involved 95 patients who received Vitoss as an autograft extender or as an allograft extender. Unlike donor bone materials from cadavers, Vitoss poses no risk of biocontamination, infection, or rejection. Vitoss is a highly porous scaffold composed of nanometer-sized calcium phosphate particles with 90% interconnecting porosity that are designed to replicate the characteristics of human cancellous bone and allow for resorption, cell seeding, and ingrowth of host bone. Use of Vitoss can avoid the need to harvest bone from other areas in the body or use cadaver bone materials, says Orthovita, Inc. (Malvern, PA, USA), which developed the synthetic bone material.

"While autograft remains the gold standard for lumbar spinal fusions, these studies indicate that Vitoss can offer significant advantages as an extender to autograft or allograft, and in some cases can even be used alone successfully,” said Raymond Linovitz, MD, a spine surgeon in San Diego (CA, USA) and a lead investigator on one of the studies.




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