Bones, like any body part, can get damaged or diseased. When this happens, one of the best options to repair and rebuild bone is bone grafting. This technique uses transplanted bone that can be taken from the hips, ribs, or legs to do the graft. You can also get donated bone tissue from cadavers to perform this procedure. Bone tissue is manufactured using several means and stored in tissue banks. According to AdvaMed, this industry employs more than 356,000 people at 5,800 companies. Here are some things you may need to know about bone graft manufacturers.
WHERE DO BONE GRAFT MANUFACTURES GET BONE
Instead of harvesting bone tissue from your own body parts, bone graft manufacturers get bone tissue from cadavers. This type of bone tissue is known as an allograft. Once harvested, the bone is stored in a tissue bank where it awaits use in different medical procedures. Allograft can be delivered in several forms, including chips used in spine infusions. One thing to note about allograft is that it only serves as calcium scaffolding. This means it doesn’t contain any bone-growing proteins or cells required to stimulate bone growth. This means it tends to have a lower chance of fusion.
WHO USES ALLOGRAFT BONE FROM GRAFT MANUFACTURERS
Allograft bone can supplement a patient’s bone tissue. It can also be used on its own. For instance, in the lumbar spine, bone obtained from bone manufacturers is used for ALIF or PLIF procedures. This involves the placement of grafts between the vertebrae. Compression generally fosters a faster healing process. Allograft chips can also be used to supplement a patient’s own bone tissue in extensive fusion processes. A good example is a spinal fusion for adolescent scoliosis.
CONSIDERATIONS WHEN MAKING ALLOGRAFT BONE
There are two things that should be considered when making bone grafts. The first is the risk of disease transmission. Due to this risk, bone graft manufacturers take time to ensure they obtain disease-free tissue that won’t cause problems. Apart from that, they try to increase the chances of fusion. To improve the chance of fusion and limit the chance of disease transmission, most manufacturers go with a demineralized bone matrix (DBM). This comes from processing bone tissue from different cadavers. Stem cells are also used to help create bone tissue that has a high chance of fusion and low chance of disease transmission.
These are some of the things you need to know about bone graft manufacturers. Bone grafting can solve a lot of issues. If you’re interested in the benefits of this technique, get in touch with us at SurGenTec today for more information about our products and industry.