Bones are the core structure supporting our body’s upright stature. In coordination with muscles and other soft tissues like ligaments and tendons, it causes locomotion. Making connections with each other, forming joints they develop a musculoskeletal system. As we move we may be subject to injury due to sudden hit or drastic move. Moreover, as time passes bones lose strength which may also subject them to disease. Severe or mild, an orthopedic surgeon can address all types of musculoskeletal concerns. Among such issues, fractures are many common ones a surgeon have to deal with. Some fractures improve on their own while others need a starter to heal fast. Bone grafting is a technique incorporated by an orthopedic surgeon in Lahore in most cases to speed up the recovery process.
Bone grafting
For this reason, it helps to repair severe fractures to bone or bones which doesn’t heal rightly on their own makes it a most used process for the betterment of patients. Bone grafting is also use for fusing joints permanently to treat chronic pain. It further involves various methods through which bone can be graft.
Bone grafting is a surgical procedure by which the body can accelerate the natural bone-building process. A graft is apply in-between space create due to broke bone. It gives support and initiates the repairing process as soon the graft is adjust. Tissue growth is stimulate by putting in a graft that fills the gap restoring bone structure and rigidity refunding the lost strength.
Why it is need?
An orthopedic surgeon may recommend this procedure for many reasons like:
- When bones fail to heal properly after a fracture.
- In the case of delayed union where bone fusion is much slower than expect.
- Malunion, where there is the healing of bone in an abnormal or wrong position.
- Nonunion when fusion is not happening.
- Bone defects with diseases such as osteonecrosis or cancer.
- When a patient suffers from osteomyelitis, a bone infection.
- Congenital abnormalities include abnormal chin size or uneven limbs.
- Before having a tooth implant to strengthen Jaw.
- To secure prosthetic joint by providing necessary bone growth after joint replacement surgery.
- Fusing painful vertebrae in the spine.
- Bone trauma with abrasive fractures that badly broken bone into several tiny pieces.
Bone grafting methods
When you approach an orthopedic surgeon in Lahore he will guide you through all possible methods that can be apply for bone grafting. These include:
- Autograft
Through this, the surgeon extracts bone grafts from other healthy bones of the patient’s body like mostly from hip bone as it is the bone with the largest surface area in the body. An incision is made to expose hip bone and graft is remove. This method is of great advantage as the risk of having tissue rejection or developing any other foreign infection is no more and bone fusion takes place successfully. However, the patient may feel pain at the site of graft extraction.
- Allograft
It’s a method where a donor is require for a bone graft. The extraction is sent to a laboratory for sterilization so it doesn’t cause infection in the recipient’s body after implantation. Examined and tested in the laboratory to make it safe for the receiving patient. Most commonly allograft is adopted for spinal fusion procedures where it acts as a structure around which the growth of healthy bone tissues takes place.
- Bone marrow aspirate
It’s the extraction of bone marrow cells I.e. stem cells and progenitor cells that acquire a high ability to regenerate bone. This method is quite effective in repairing fractures where a sample is extracted from hip bone with the help of a needle. Bone marrow is extracted and either used alone or along with an allograft technique to boost the healing process.
- Synthetic bone graft
Another method to conduct bone grafting is through synthetic graft. It is an artificially prepared substance composed of various porous materials. Some protein-containing materials support the development of bone.
Bone grafting procedure
The orthopedic surgeon after carrying out a health examination prepare the patient for anesthesia which put them to sleep and the patient won’t feel any pain as the sensation is blocked temporarily. An incision is made to expose the fractured bone which is cleaned by removing debris and diseased tissue if any. Now the bone is ready for graft implantation. The graft is carefully fixed to the target area and secured using plates, screws or pins design for the purpose. Finally, the incision is closed by stitching the cut.
Risks and benefits of bone grafting
Like all other surgeries bone grafting do have some risk factors like blood loss, pain, improper healing, pins or screws applied to hold graft may get lost or graft may detach, infection as it’s an open surgery and scarring. These conditions may arise in some cases. Apart from risks each bone grafting technique have its benefits. For autograft, there is no fear of infection and disease transmission.
Healing is successful as the graft is taken from the patient’s own body so tissue rejection is not an issue anymore also graft is load with bone-growing cells which quickly initiates the repairing process. In allograft, the patient is prevent from additional procedures to extract graft as it is extract from the donor’s body. As far synthetic bone graft is concerned it is beneficial because available in unlimited quantity, surgeons are no more restrict to small extractions so fractures on greater surface area can be repaired using this artificial substance.
Conclusion
After the graft installation, it fuses into bone tissues in the surroundings. Several weeks are required for healing to take place successfully and recover from a fracture. The recovery period depends on factors like size and location of bone graft, age and health condition of the patient. Bone grafting is the most appropriate method to address fractures that don’t heal on their own. So you better see an orthopedic surgeon in Lahore to seek guidance for the matter.