Bone healing by induction: clinical perspectives.

Treatment of osseous defects by induced bone regeneration has yielded promising results in laboratory animals and in preliminary human trials. Two inducing agents, demineralized bone powder and bone morphogenetic protein, are being used clinically to treat some bony defects without the need for an autogenous bone-harvesting procedure. Such off-the-shelf bone-inducing agents may someday become a significant addition to the armamentarium of the military orthopedic surgeon for dealing with the numerous skeletal injuries which occur in today's service environment.