The Use of Calcium Sulfate in the Treatment of Benign Bone Lesions

Abstract

Bone grafts are widely used by surgeons to correct bone defects resulting from a variety of causes, including tumors, trauma, and infection. Autogenous bone remains the ideal material for grafting because it is not antigenic and it has both osteoinductive and osteogenic properties1. The harvesting of autogenous bone, however, can be associated with substantial complications. The common problems that have been reported include pain at the donor site, palsy of the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve, injury of the superior gluteal artery, pelvic fracture, hematoma, infection, and gait disturbances2. Furthermore, the amount of autogenous bone graft available for harvesting is limited and may be insufficient to fill large osseous defects. The quality of the harvested autogenous bone is also variable1. Because of the complications associated with harvesting autogenous bone and its limited supply, many surgeons have sought bone-graft-substitute materials. A bone-graft substitute that has regained popularity recently is calcium sulfate, more commonly known as plaster of Paris. Plaster of Paris is derived from the common mineral gypsum, which contains calcium sulfate dihydrate (CaSO4 • 2 H2O). Calcium sulfate was first used by Dreesman2 to obliterate bone cavities caused by tuberculosis. In 1959, Peltier3 became the first American to report on the use of calcium sulfate as a bone-graft substitute. He and Jones found that calcium sulfate is …