Percutaneous treatment of long bone nonunions: the use of autologous bone marrow and allograft bone matrix.

Sixty-six patients with 69 "stiff" nonunions (no gross motion) of long bones were entered into a prospective study. The only therapeutic intervention was the percutaneous administration of a mixture of autologous bone marrow and allograft demineralized bone matrix on an outpatient basis. Sixty-one of the percutaneous treatments (88%) resulted in union at an average of 8.1 months (range: 2 months to 3 years). This method of treating nonunions is as successful as standard iliac crest autologous bone grafting and offers the distinct advantages of decreased morbidity, reduced costs, and shorter hospital stay.