Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein is a valid alternative to autologous bone graft for long bone...

To compare the efficacy of recombinant human bone morphogenetic proteins (rhBMPs) and autologous bone graft (ABG) on the healing of long bone non-union.

A systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and CNKI up to December 2021. Two authors independently screened the studies, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the trials. A Meta-analysis was performed using state software (version 12.0).

A total of 14 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Overall, there was no significant difference between the rhBMPs group and the ABG group in terms of healing rate (RR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.96-1.12, p = 0.365) and healing time (SMD = -0.31, 95% CI = -0.76-0.14, p = 0.175). Subgroup analysis showed rhBMPs lead to higher healing rates (RR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.17-1.56, p < 0.001), and shorter healing time (SMD = -0.65, 95% CI = -1.08 to -0.22, p = 0.003) in the subgroup of moderate-quality studies. Sensitivity analysis proved that our conclusions were relatively robust. No significant publication bias was recognized in all studies (Begg's test, p = 0.193; Egger's test, p = 0.307).

RhBMPs or combined with allografts bone, inorganic bone was a valid alternative to ABG for the treatment of long bone non-union.