Percutaneous Autologous Bone-marrow Grafting for Open Tibial Shaft Fracture

This study will be conducted at 13 University Hospitals in France. The protocol has been approved by the institutional review board. After written informed consent, patients will be randomized, in the days after the fracture in 2 groups of 93 patients : 1) the control group (standard of care only: fixation by nail or external fixator and routine soft-tissue management) and 2) the study group (standard of care with percutaneous injection, one month after fracture, of autologous concentrated bone-marrow). Randomization will be stratified by severity of the open wound and by center. For the wound, strata A comprise Gustilo-Anderson types I, II and III-A and strata B, type III-B. For the study group, the injection is scheduled at 1 month ± 5 days after the fracture. The techniques have been described by Hernigou (J Bone Joint Surg Am, 2006; 88(sup 1 part 2): 322-327). There are 3 steps: marrow aspiration (300 - 500 g) from iliac crest under general anesthesia, centrifugation in cell therapy unit to obtain a concentrated buffy coat of about 50 ml containing progenitor cells and other mononuclear cells, percutaneous injection in the fracture site of 20-30 ml of the buffy coat under fluoroscopy control. Apart from the injection, the standard of care is the same for the 2 groups. Patients will be followed for 12 months, with assessments at 1, 2, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. All analysis will be based on the intent to treat the population. The primary outcome measure will be the proportion of patients requiring secondary intervention because of delayed union or nonunion within twelve months post fracture. An independent panel of surgeons will evaluate all secondary procedure with the potential of promoting fracture-healing. An independent evaluation of fracture union will be conducted by a radiology panel blinded to treatment allocation and all other patient data. An outcome will be considered to be successful when the fracture heal, according to the investigator, without secondary intervention and is radiographically united during patient follow-up.