Purpose: Autologous iliac crest bone grafting is an integral part of many orthopedic surgical procedures. So, the purpose of this study was to determine the postoperative morbidity after harvesting graft from the anterior iliac crest.
Patients and Methods: This study was conducted on (10) adult patients comprised of (7) males and (3) females, their ages ranged from 13 to 45 years in Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Department, Faculty of dentistry, Tanta University. An approval of the trust ethical committee was obtained together with a written informed consent from all patients. The donor site was evaluated according to: presence of pain, presence of gait, presence of numbness of the hip of the operated leg, presence of haematoma at the donor site, residual scar, deformity of the bony contour, scar tenderness and presence of wound dehiscence or infection.
Results: Patients spent a median of 1.5 days in the hospital. No pain had been detected at the end of the follow up period. All patients walked normally through the follow up periods except patient no. (8) who suffered from walking difficulty through the first month postoperatively but the condition improved after 3 and 6 months postoperatively. Only one patient (case no. 3) had numbness in the outer aspect of the operated leg through the 1st month postoperatively but the numbness had been disappeared after 3 & 6 months postoperatively. Only one patient, case no. (8) showed presence of haematoma and superficial infection through the 1st month postoperatively, but with conservative treatment the condition was improved through late follow up. One patient had reported presence of residual scar with tenderness on palpation (case no. 8) but tenderness had disappeared after 3&6 months postoperatively. No bony deformity had been detected in the donor site in all patients.
Conclusion: Harvesting of bone from the anterior iliac crest is well tolerated and had minimal morbidity.