Cranial bone grafts for use in posterior fixation of the cervical spine. Technical note

Bone grafts are usually an integral part of cervical spine fixation following spinal trauma. Unfortunately, many currently used bone graft donor sites (including the rib, iliac crest, and fibula) cause unacceptable patient morbidity, especially postoperative pain. A readily available source of autologous bone graft for posterior cervical fusion is the occipital bone. This membranous bone offers the advantage of strength and less bone resorption. It has been used at the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre for 4 years as a standard source of bone graft with no morbidity and excellent results for fusion.