I had some spine surgery that required using bone from my hip. I’m having so much pain from that part of the operation. I never imagined it would be so bad. Is this a common problem?

Harvesting and using your own bone for spinal fusions or other spine surgeries is still the safest method. This is called an autologous bone graft.

The risk of infection and inflammation from allograft (donor) tissue is much greater than with autografts. But there are both minor and major problems that can occur with autografts. Chronic pain at the donor site is one of them.

Almost 40 per cent of patients with autografts still report donor site pain six months after the operation. After two years, this number drops to 20 per cent. Patients with chronic pain are disappointed and dissatisfied. Although the spine surgery helped, now they have a different type of disabling pain.

Scientists are actively seeking materials that can be used as a substitute for bone grafts. This could reduce and/or eliminate such problems. One popular bone graft substitute is calcium phosphate.

When large amounts of bone graft are needed, calcium phosphate makes a good bone graft extender. This material is porous but also dense. It has the right kind of surface to encourage bone ingrowth without negative side effects.

Hopefully in the near future, patients needing extensive spine surgery can avoid the complications of autologous bone grafts. Bone graft extenders may be used safely and effectively as bone substitutes.