What are bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) and how can they be used in orthopaedic practice? Ever since Urist proposed in 1976 that protein factors from cortical bone appeared to modulate bone healing in animals, there has been a search for these mysterious osteoinductive components. Now that their structure has been elucidated, they have been purified and cloned, and are now available for the improvement of bone healing. The best source of BMPs is demineralised bone. This bone allograft is used to achieve greater osteoinductive capacity. But are the actions procurement, processing,...

Although bone allografts were first utilized by McEwen in orthopaedic surgery in 1881, progress since then has been sporadic. This book provides an international expert evaluation of the use of bone, bone substitutes and related allografts, and describes practices and clinical results in particular procedures.