Off-label use of bone morphogenetic protein 2 in the reconstructions of mandibular continuity defects

Abstract

This paper describes 3 patients of off-label use of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2) in the reconstruction of mandibular continuity defects. In the first patient, rhBMP-2 was associated with iliac crest bone graft for late mandibular reconstruction after resection of osteosarcoma. In the 2 other patients, rhBMP-2 was used alone. In 1 patient the mandibular continuity defect was due to resection for treatment of osteomyelitis and in the other patient a continuity defect was created by unsuccessful osteogenic distraction for correction of mandibular hypoplasia. Despite the good results in those patients, the off-label use of rhBMP-2 is associated with increased rate of complications, so more studies are needed to assess the predictability of the use of rhBMP-2 in mandibular continuity defects. Therefore, at the moment the offlabel use of rhBMP-2 should be restricted to complicated bone defects in which the conventional alternatives of reconstruction were unsuccessful.