Donor site morbidity in autologous bone grafting – A comparison between different techniques of anterior iliac crest bone harvesting: A prospective study

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study is to compare morbidities at the donor site in autologous bone harvesting from an anterior iliac crest via the outer cortex, inner cortex and table splitting technique. Methods: The randomized, prospective and comparative study was conducted in 60 patients who were treated with bone grafting as a part of their treatment plan. Group A underwent the outer cortex technique (20 patients), Group B underwent the inner cortex technique (20 patients) and Group C underwent the table splitting technique (20 patients). The comparison of morbidities associated with various techniques of anterior iliac crest bone graft harvesting was done for a period of one year. Results: Most common morbidity observed was pain, measured by the visual analogue scale score (60/60, 100% of patients). The visual analogue scale score was significantly higher for the outer cortex group followed by the inner cortex group, and then the lowest score was for the table splitting group ( p < 0.05). Followed by numbness (40/60, 66%), least in the table splitting group and maximum in the outer cortex group ( p < 0.05). Next was abnormal gait, which was mostly seen in patients with the outer table method and least in the table split group ( p < 0.05). Other complications were infections (4), itching at the surgical site (3) and hematoma (1). There were no significant difference regarding scar satisfaction among comparison groups. Conclusion: we conclude that few differences do exist in harvest-site morbidities between different techniques used in our study. Overall, the most common morbidity observed were pain, numbness and abnormal gait. However, the table splitting group has the lowest morbidity, therefore bone harvesting by the table splitting appears to be a very good option.