Morbidity of iliac crest donor site following open bone harvesting in cleft lip and palate patients

The aim of this prospective study was to assess donor site morbidity associated with open iliac crest bone harvesting to graft secondary alveolar clefts. At a university teaching hospital, 64 Jordanian patients underwent secondary alveolar bone grafting with iliac crest bone harvest. The same standardized surgical technique was used over a 6-year period by a single maxillofacial surgeon. The duration of time until postoperative ambulation and length of hospitalization were recorded. A graded visual analog scale of 1–10 was used to score the patient's postoperative pain, and perception of surgical scar and procedure. More than 76% of the patients found that postoperative pain at the hip donor site was as or less than they had expected, and the median value for the worst pain was 4. About 42% of the patients found the hip donor site to be more painful than the mouth. About 91% of the patients reported walking within the first 24 h postoperatively and 89% of the patients were able to walk with normal gait within 2 weeks of surgery. The procedure was considered to result in an esthetically acceptable donor site scar, which was rated highly by patients. Harvesting bone from the iliac crest is well tolerated by patients and has low morbidity.