Bone morphogenetic protein use increased significantly from 2002 to 2011, with off-label use accounting for a majority of BMP utilization, according to a new study published in Spine.
Researchers in this nonconflicted study examined data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample of Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project for patients who underwent anterior cervical fusion or posterior cervical fusion, anterior lumbar fusion or posterior lumbar fusion or a posterior thoracic fusion. The researchers found:
• BMP use increased from 1,116 procedures to 79,294 procedures by 2011
• BMP represented 26.9 percent of all spinal fusion procedures in 2011
• 76.8 percent of all posterior lumbar fusion used BMP over the nine-year period
• 56.9 percent of anterior lumbar fusions used BMP in 2006
• 10.6 percent of all anterior cervical fusions in 2007 used BMP, but declined to 6.4 percent in 2011
• Increased use of BMP among older patients with increasing comorbidities
• Hospital costs increased $9,569 from 2002 to 2010
"The increase in the total hospital costs is likely multifactorial; older patients with more comorbidities undergoing surgery as well as the increasing use of BMP are all likely contributory factors," concluded the study authors.
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