Arya Nick Shamie, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery and Neurosurgery, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, discusses the use of stem cells in spinal surgery to grow new bone, thus minimizing the need for painful bone grafts.

Reading:
Smoljanovic T, Siric F, Bojanic I.Complications associated with use of bone-morphogenetic proteins in spinal fusion procedures.JAMA. 2009 Nov 18;302(19):2090-1; author reply 2091
Axelrad TW, Einhorn TA.Bone morphogenetic proteins in orthopaedic surgery.Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 2009 Oct-Dec;20(5-6):481-8. Epub 2009 Nov 4.
Maeda T, Buchowski JM, Kim YJ, Mishiro T, Bridwell KH.Long adult spinal deformity fusion to the sacrum using rhBMP-2 versus autogenous iliac crest bone graft.Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2009 Sep 15;34(20):2205-12.

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