Ali Parsa - Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Hamed Vahedi - Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Karan Goswami - Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
Arash Aalirezaie - Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

BackhroundsDespite widespread research on non-traumatic femoral head osteonecrosis (FHON),there is no consensus about preventative treatment options. Insufficient blood supplyand increased intraosseous pressure are the initiating events in the majority of cases.BMPs are growth factors that belong to the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ)superfamily. Two specific formulations of BMPs have already been approved by theFDA: 1. BMP2- (Infused, Medtronic) for the treatment of tibial open fractures andspinal fusion; 2. BMP7- (OP1-, Stryker) in the setting of long bone nonunions.To ourknowledge there is no published work reviewing the utility of BMP2- in the setting ofFHON.Methodsonline databases (EMBASE, Cochrane, MEDLINE and PubMed) for literature relating tothe use of BMP2- in the treatment of FHON on 2nd June 2017.ResultsA total of 169 animal subjects with induced FHON were treated with BMP2- in all theincluded in vivo studies.In combination, 96 human hips were treated with BMP2- andmean follow-up was at least five years.ConclusionsThe present review of animal and clinical studies concludes that preliminary evidence supports the utilization of BMP2-, and this has an acceptable impact on the midtermoutcomes of FHON.