A COST ANALYSIS OF TREATMENT OF TIBIAL FRACTURE NON-UNIONS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN AUTOLOGOUS ILIAC CREST BONE GRAFTING AND BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEIN-7

Abstract

Purpose: To estimate and compare the direct medical cost implications of the first attempt of treatment of tibial fracture non-unions treated with either autologous bone grafting or BMP-7.

Methods: Patients who were successfully treated for fracture non-unions between 2001 and 2005 were enrolled. Exclusion criteria included a diagnosis of an infected nonunion, children, malignancy, or chronic debilitating disease. The decision to use BMP-7 or autogenous bone graft was guided by the defect size as well as the treating surgeon’s preferred method of treatment. Group 1 received iliac crest bone grafting (ICBG) and Group 2 received recombinant human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-7 (BMP–7) as the first line of treatment. The direct medical costs of treatment – including hospital stay, implants, theatre costs, drains, antibiotics, investigations and outpatient appointments were documented and analysed.

Results: The study sample consisted of 27 patients (14 females). Group 1 and Group 2 included 12 patients (4 females) and 15 patients (5 females) respectively. The mean age was 41.4 and 38.5 years respectively. The average hospital stay was 7.66 for the ICBG and 5,66 for the BMP7 patients (p=0.051). The follow-up period for Group 1 was 2.84 and 2.4 years for Group 2. The average time to union was 15.3 and 10.6 weeks respectively and this was statistically significant (p< 0.05). The overall direct medical costs on average reached the sum of £6,830.73 and £7,294.1 respectively. The hospital’s, operating theatre’s and outpatient’s direct medical costs were statistically significant (p< 0.05) more for the ICBG group. The implants costs did not significantly differ between the 2 groups and the second group’s costs were mostly raised due to the actual cost of the BMP7 (£3,002.2).

Conclusion and Significance: In this study, the average cost of treatment of a tibial fracture non-union with BMP7 was 6.7% higher than the cost incurred with autologous bone grafting. Most of the costs incurred (41.1%) in the BMP7 group were related to the actual price of BMP7. The direct medical cost difference between the two groups of patients wasn’t statistically significantly higher.