Effects of autogenous bone graft impaction and tricalcium phosphate on anterior interbody fusion in the porcine lumbar spine

Abstract

Background Impaction grafting can be achieved inside the spinal fusion cages, but its effect on bone graft incorporation and spinal fusion has not been studied.Animals and methods We investigated the effect of impaction grafting on the bone graft healing and fusion potential of ß-tricalcium phosphate (ß-TCP) inside the carbon fiber reinforced spinal fusion device (Brantigan cage) in 10 Danish landrace pigs. Lumbar spine interbody fusion of L2/3, L4/5 and L6/7 using carbon fiber cages was performed on each pig. Cages filled with either loosely-packed autologous iliac bone graft, rod-impacted autologous bone graft or ß-TCP were randomly distributed to the three fusion levels. Half of the animals were followed for 8 weeks, and the other half for 16 weeks.Results Radiographs and CT evaluations showed that autograft levels had significantly better results than ß-TCP levels (p