Does Autologous Bone Marrow Aspirate Enhance Graft Effectiveness for Spinal Fusion?

This is a brief review of selected spine literature evaluating the osteogenic potential of bone marrow derived cells in vivo. There is support for a slight increase in fusion rates attributable to the addition of autologous bone marrow aspirate in graft insufficiency experiments performed in animals. There is less support for the addition of bone marrow aspirate as an isolated osteogenic source of cells or inductive agent in merely conductive matrices or carriers. To date, a definitive clinical study demonstrating the efficacy of autologous bone marrow aspirate as a graft enhancer does not exist.