Bone is a living vascular organ containing channels for blood and bone marrow. When a bone is cut during surgery bleeding can be a difficult problem to control, especially in the highly vascular bones of the spine and sternum. 

Bleeding from soft tissue is normally stopped using a cautery that creates heat, causing blood vessels to collapse and become sealed. Since the blood in living bone flows through channels in the bone that do not collapse, a cautery is not effective in preventing bone bleeding. Blocking the holes in the bone typically stops bone bleeding. This can be done by mechanically blocking the holes (tamponade effect), or by inducing a blood clot to form.

Bone wax
In the past the easiest and most common way to stop bone bleeding was to apply bone wax, which is made from beeswax. The bone wax is smeared across the bleeding edge of the bone, blocking the holes and causing immediate hemostasis.
Bone wax is supplied in sterile sticks, and most often requires softening before it can be applied. It does not adhere particularly well to wet surfaces.
Although inexpensive, easy to use and immediate, beeswax has a number of adverse reactions associated with it.

Beeswax is known to have the following problems:
1) Bone wax inhibits formation of new bone critical for bone healing (osteogenesis) and acts a physical barrier preventing bone union.^1-3 

2) Bone wax is known to increase infection rates.^7-8

3)Bone wax can remain as a foreign body for many years, causing a giant cell reaction and local inflammation at the site of application.^{11, 12}   

4) In skull base surgery, bone wax has been reported to cause granuloma formation and CSF fluid leaks.^{13, 14}

Ostene^™
Ostene^™ is an excellent solution when the complications of beeswax need to be avoided and immediate hemostasis is required. Ostene^™ is made from a water-soluble blend designed to look and feel like bonewax.

The FDA accepted the following description of Ostene^™:
Ostene^™ is indicated for use as a water-soluble implant material and for use in the control of bleeding from bone surfaces. Ostene^™ is comprised of a sterile mixture of water-soluble alkylene oxide copolymers, derived from ethylene oxide and propylene oxide. These copolymers have a long history in the medical and pharmaceutical fields, and they are generally considered inert. The poloxamer that is used is a common inactive ingredient in pharmaceutical preparations.  These compounds are not metabolized, but eliminated from the body unchanged.