[Comparison of nano-hydroxyapatite/polyamide 66 bioactive support and autologous iliac bone in bone grafting and fusion for elderly patients with lumbar tuberculosis].

Objective: To investigate the safety of nano-hydroxyapatite/polyamide 66 (n-HA/PA66) bioactive support in bone grafting and fusion for elderly patients with lumbar tuberculosis, and to analyze its effectiveness and advantages by comparing with autologous iliac bone grafting.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 48 elderly patients with lumbar tuberculosis who met the selection criteria between January 2017 and January 2020. The patients all underwent one-stage posterior pedicle screw internal fixation combined with anterior lesion removal and bone grafting and fusion, of which 23 cases applied n-HA/PA66 bioactive support+allogeneic bone graft (n-HA/PA66 group) and 25 cases applied autologous iliac bone graft (autologous iliac bone group). There was no significant difference between the two groups in gender, age, bone density, disease duration, lesion segment, and preoperative pain visual analogue scale (VAS) score, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, and Cobb angle ( >0.05). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and postoperative complications, as well as the VAS score, JOA score, American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) spinal cord injury grading, Cobb angle, and bone fusion were recorded and compared between the two groups.

Results: The operations were completed successfully in both groups. n-HA/PA66 group had significantly less operation time and intraoperative blood loss than the autologous iliac bone group ( <0.05). All patients were followed up 12-24 months, with an average of 15.7 months. And the difference in follow-up time between the two groups was not significant ( >0.05). Postoperative complications occurred in 3 cases (13%) in the n-HA/PA66 group and 10 cases (40%) in the autologous iliac group, and the difference in the incidence of complications between the two groups was significant ( =4.408, =0.036). The postoperative VAS scores and JOA scores significantly improved when compared with the preoperative scores in both groups ( <0.05), and the difference was significant ( <0.05) between 2 weeks after operation and the last follow-up. The difference in VAS score at 2 weeks after operation was significant between the two groups ( <0.05), and there was no significant difference ( >0.05) at the other time points. At last follow-up, according to the ASIA grading, the effective improvement rate was 86% (18/21) in the n-HA/PA66 group and 90% (18/20) in the autologous iliac group, with no significant difference ( =0.176, =0.675). Imaging review showed that grade Ⅰ bony fusion was obtained in both groups, and the fusion time of bone graft in the n-HA/PA66 group was significantly longer than that in the autologous iliac bone group ( <0.05). There was no significant difference in the Cobb angle at each time point between the two groups ( >0.05). No recurrence of tuberculosis, loosening or fracture of the internal fixator, or displacement of the bone graft was observed during follow-up.

Conclusion: In elderly patients with lumbar spine tuberculosis, the n-HA/PA66 bioactive support combined with allogeneic bone graft can effectively restore and maintain the fusion segment height and physiological curvature of the lumbar spine, and the fusion rate of bone graft is similar to that of autologous iliac bone, which can achieve better effectiveness.