Genetic Engineering for Back Surgery (Ivanhoe First)
Reported March 23, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire)
— A new genetically engineered material made of human proteins speeds recovery time and improves results in lumbar spine fusions at greater rates than originally believed, according to Charles Rosen, M.D., a spine surgeon at the University of California at Irvine.
The new material is called bone morphogenic protein (BMP). Doctors spent decades trying to isolate and produce the exact substance in humans that causes broken bones to heal and spines to fuse upon operation. Recent advances in genetic engineering allow BMP’s production in concentrated form.
Two years ago, the FDA approved the use of BMP for lumbar spine fusions, and preliminary findings proved it to result in successful fusions 95 percent of the time.
Dr. Rosen says his research based on his patients’ spinal fusion outcomes from the past two years shows that with BMP, lumbar spine fusion patients recover twice as quickly than with traditional surgery. Recovery time was cut from three to five months to two to four weeks. Dr. Rosen says spines fuse successfully 100 percent of the time, as opposed to the 80-percent success rate with traditional bone graft surgery.
Traditional bone graft back surgery involves replacing degenerating discs or vertebrae with bone taken from a patient’s own hip. Dr. Rosen says it is painful, can have multiple complications, and often fails. He says the new method with BMP halves the time to fusion and is much less painful than taking chunks of bone from a patient’s hip.
Dr. Rosen says, “We’re only a short time away from using BMP for all sorts of bone injuries from fractures to bone diseases to joint reconstruction. BMP will revolutionize the way bones are treated.” He tells Ivanhoe, “With BMP, bone grafts will become obsolete for spinal surgery. Having done spine surgery for 15 years and having to deal with the non-unions that occur, to me, it’s utterly astounding to have a virtually 100-percent fusion rate using this. It’ s unheard of in the history of spine surgery.”
Dr. Rosen adds, “My opinion is that over the next five years, I think it will become the standard for spine fusions. It is not now, but as the results come out from people like me and other people who just do spine surgery, I think it’s going to become obvious that this really should be the standard because it fuses so well, so extensively, so quickly, and you obviate the need for painful bone graft, which is horrible.”
Dr. Rosen is also using BMP fusion for neck surgery. He says, “The new indications of using it in the cervical spine are as good.”
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Charles Rosen, M.D., of the University of California at Irvine