CRANIAL BONE-GRAFTS FOR USE IN POSTERIOR FIXATION OF THE CERVICAL-SPINE

Bone grafts are usually an integral part of cervical spine fixation fo llowing spinal trauma. Unfortunately, many currently used bone graft d onor sites (including the rib, iliac crest, and fibula) cause unaccept able patient morbidity, especially postoperative pain. A readily avail able source of autologous bone graft for posterior cervical fusion is the occipital bone. This membranous bone offers the advantage of stren gth and less bone resorption. It has been used at the Sunnybrook Healt h Science Centre for 4 years as a standard source of bone graft with n o morbidity and excellent results for fusion.