Extra surgery to harvest bone could be eliminated, study says

A new study just released in a leading bone regeneration publication, Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Implants (JOMI, Vol. 20, May/June 2005), confirms that Cerasorb pure-phase beta-tricalcium phosphate is a satisfactory graft material, even without autogenous bone, thereby eliminating the need for surgeons to perform an extra surgery to harvest bone.

The study, which examined "whether donor site morbidity can be avoided by using synthetic bone substitutes," came to this conclusion: "Comparisons with other studies reveal that beta-tricalcium phosphate (Cerasorb) is a satisfactory graft material, even without autogenous bone."

The results of this two-year, multi-center, randomized clinical trial are critical, because surgeons have generally believed that autogenous bone must be added to improve results, regardless of the bone-substitute materials added.

However, in order to add autogenous bone, a second operation has been required, putting "the patient at risk of donor site morbidity."

The article, "A Prospective Multicenter Randomized Clinical Trial of Autogenous Bone versus Beta-Tricalcium Phosphate Graft Alone for Bilateral Sinus Elevation: Histologic and Histomorphometric Evaluation," by authors Gyorgy Szabo, MD, DDS, PhD; Luc Huys, DDS; Paul Coulthard, MD, DDS et al, was based on research conducted at five prominent European centers, with the histological evaluations done blinded at a central location.