Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein–2 Use in Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery: Comparative Analysis and Healthcare Utilization at 24 Months’ Follow-up

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study. Objective: Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein–2 (rhBMP-2) is used to achieve fusion in adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery. Our aim was to investigate the long-term impact of rhBMP-2 use for clinical outcomes and health care utilization in this patient population. Methods: We conducted an analysis using MarketScan to identify health resource utilization of rhBMP-2 use for ASD after surgical intervention compared to fusion without rhBMP-2 at 24 months’ follow-up. Outcomes assessed included length of stay, complications, pseudoarthrosis, reoperation, outpatient services, and health care payments. Results: Of 7115 patients who underwent surgery for ASD, 854 received rhBMP-2 and 6261 were operated upon without use of rhBMP-2. One month after discharge, the rhBMP-2 cohort had a nonsignificant trend in fewer complications (15.38%) than those who did not receive rhBMP-2 (18.07%), P =.0558. At 12 months, pseudoarthrosis was reported in 2.8% of cases with no BMP and 01.14% of cases with BMP, P =.0048. Average payments at 12 months were $120 138 for the rhBMP-2 group and $118 373 for the no rhBMP-2 group, P =.8228. At 24 months, payments were $141 664 for the rhBMP-2 group and $144 179 for the group that did not receive rhBMP-2, P =.5946. Conclusions: In ASD surgery, use of rhBMP-2 was not associated with increased complications or reoperations at index hospitalization and 1-month follow-up. Overall payments, including index hospitalization, readmissions, reoperations, and outpatient services were not different compared to those without the use of rhBMP-2 at 12 months and 24 months after discharge.