**8.2 Spinal surgery**

Hart et al. informed on a prospective, randomized, and blinded study in patients with lumbar disease the use of BMC mixed with allograft spongiosa chips during surgical posterolateral fusion (PLF) procedures. Patients underwent instrumented lumbar spine PLF procedures [134]. Fusion status and the degree of mineralization were evaluated by two radiologists blinded to patient group affiliation. X-ray examination, in control patients at 12-month follow-up, showed that the bone graft mass fused in none of the cases and, at 24-months, in four cases (10%). In the BMC treatment group, 6 cases (15%) achieved fusion at 12 months and 14 cases (35%) at 24 months. Computed tomography scans showed that 40% of control patients and 80% of BMC-treated patients had evidence of at least a unilateral continuous bridging of the bones between neighboring vertebrae at 24 months, significantly favoring the mixture of spongiosa bone with autologous BMC (*P* < 0.05) as an efficient option to augment PLF healing.
