[Promotion of bone healing through clinical application of autologous periosteum derived stem cells in a case of atrophic non-union].

This case report describes the application of periosteum-derived mesenchymal stem cells in a patient with atrophic non-union of the distal femur after correction osteotomy. While biomechanical treatment devices for various bone defects are available in abundance, biological promoters for clinical application in situations of critical bone healing are still scarce. We showed radiographically that cultivated autologous periosteal bone precursor cells on a three-dimensional matrix can promote bone healing in a defect where numerous established methods had failed to lead to consolidation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first clinical application of in-vitro cultivated autologous periosteum-derived cells for the healing of a large bone defect in humans.