Comprehensive analysis of the volume of bone for grafting that can be harvested from iliac crest donor sites

Our aim was to calculate the volumes of cancellous, cortical, and corticocancellous bone that can be harvested as a graft from the anterior and posterior iliac crests using 3-dimensional computed tomography (CT) and software in a living adult population. We selected random CT scans of the pelvis from 31 men and 29 women from the Department of Radiology imaging database. CT data in DICOM file format were imported into Mimics software. The anterior iliac crest and posterior iliac crest bone graft-harvested boundaries were measured. The volume of the 3-dimensional cortical and cancellous bone grafts was measured using the Mimics software. There were significant differences in all comparisons between the anterior and posterior iliac crest, except for volumes of cortical bone. More cancellous and total corticocancellous bone can be harvested from the posterior than the anterior iliac crest, together with similar or smaller volumes of cortical bone. Sex, but not age, is an important factor in terms of the amount of bone that can be harvested, with a wide range of volumes individually from both iliac crests.