Bone marrow transplantation and autogenic cancellous bone grafting in healing of segmental radial defects: An animal study

To compare the healing effect of bone marrow (BM) injection with the effects of autogenic cancellous bone graft (ABG), eighteen female and male New Zealand White rabbits (1 year, 2 kg) were randomly divided into three equal groups and osteotomy and extraction of a 5 mm piece of bone was done in the mid-portion of the right radius of all rabbits. In group A 2 ml of BM was injected in the proximal femur for five consecutive days. Group B received autogenic cancellous bone graft from ileum and group C was the control group and received no intervention. After 45 days, in group A 83% and 17% of rabbits showed good and medium healings, respectively, while in group B, 40% showed good and 60% medium healings. In control group, medium healing was 17% and poor healing was 83%. The mean healing score was significantly higher in BM injection group, compared with B and C groups (17.1, 15.2 and 6, respectively, P < 0.05). BM injection could increase the quality of healing and was much more effective than bone grafting.