Thicknesses of the iliac crest appropriate for anterior cervical interbody fusion grafts.

Autogenous tricortical iliac crest bone graft is the most widely used for the anterior cervical interbody fusion procedure. The authors performed systematic measurements to delineate the thickest areas of the iliac crest, so that surgeons would know where to select the appropriate grafts for cervical interbody fusion. The Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, supplied 232 iliac crests (116 left; 116 right) dried hip bones donated by 67 Thai males and 49 Thai females. The deceased averaged 59 years of age (range, 26-86). The thickest part of the iliac crest extended from 3 to 5 cm posterior to the ASIS and ranged between 15.59 and 17.02 mm. These regions have an appropriate thickness for harvesting graft material.