BONE GRAFT SUBSTITUTE FOR INTER-BODY SPINAL FUSION

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Spine ailments are amongst the most common and costly illnesses of today's societies. In the US alone, 30 billion dollars are spent annually for the surgical treatment of low back pain. About 400,000 such surgeries are performed every year. The gold standard, in 2008, still is to perform a spine fusion, using spongy bone of the patient's own pelvis (so called autologous iliac crest bone graft). To obtain the latter is often associated with prolonged pain (up to 30% of the patients), but also more serious complications such as vessel lacerations, neural damage, pelvic or hip fracture, etc. To use an artificial material that is forming a bone fusion just as bone does, would avoid taking bone from the pelvis. A new artificial material shall be tested in a baboon experiment for its clinical suitability. During a six month survival period the implant spacer is expected to bony integrate and thus form a stable bridge between the two adjacent vertebral bodies (this process is called a spine fusion). The artificial material is tested for achieving at least equal or possibly even better healing results compared to natural bone.