ABSTRACT
Defects that result in the need for bone tissue replacement pose a major clinical problem in orthopedic surgery. To restore the function of damaged or diseased bone tissue, bone replacement grafts have conventionally been used. These bone grafts are usually derived from tissues harvested from a second anatomic location of the same patient (autografts) or from other patients (allografts) [1-4]. The use of donor tissue, however, suffers from several limitations, including donor site morbidity, occurrence of immune-related problems in the recipient’s body, difculties in shaping explanted bone, limited supplies of suitable bone grafts, risk of disease transmission, and lessening or even complete loss of bone inductive factors. Additionally, both autografting and allografting require a second surgery site, which is expensive and sometimes associated with hematoma formation [2,3,5].
