A simple method for correlative light and scanning electron microscopy of human iliac crest bone biopsies: qualitative observations in normal and osteoporotic subjects.

Despite the fact that the scanning electron microscope (SEM) offers a number of unique advantages for the investigation of bone structure, this instrument has seldom been applied in studies of the iliac crest bone biopsy. Here we describe a very simple method of preparing iliac crest biopsies for examination in the SEM after the routine histomorphometric analysis has been performed. With observations on biopsies from normal subjects and patients with osteoporosis, the paper illustrates the potential of the method for performing correlative light and scanning electron microscopical studies and for gaining new information on the three-dimensional architecture of trabecular bone.