Bone graft harvested from the olecranon-an anatomic study

Bone grafts are widely used in orthopedic surgeries. Although the conventional iliac crest graft is still the largest source of cancellous and cortical-cancellous bone grafts, it may require a new surgical field and additional anesthesia. In contrast, the use of the distal radius graft allows removal in the same field; however, it is often the recipient site; thus, only a limited amount is usually available. In the upper limb, one of the possibilities is the use of the cancellous and/or cortical-cancellous graft from the olecranon. This was a primary and experimental study that aimed to analyze the versatility of using olecranon bone grafts through anatomical assessment of cadavers.

Eight upper limbs were dissected from four fresh, unclaimed, young cadavers, with no history of the previous pathology at the removal site to demonstrate the method of graft removal and to measure the quantity obtained in two situations, namely, removal of the cancellous graft and removal of the cortical-cancellous grafts.

The average volume of the cancellous bone graft from the olecranon was 3.9 cm³ (3.6 to 4.2 cm³). The cortical-cancellous bone graft had an average length of 4.4 cm (4.1 to 5.0), a width of 0.8 cm (0.7 to 1.0), and an average thickness of 0.4 cm (0.3 to 0.6).

The technique for harvesting the olecranon graft is easy to perform, allowing a volume in average 3.9 cm³ of cancellous graft and 4.4 cm and 0.8 cm of cortical-cancellous bone, for various upper limb defects, which require this need.