Bone grafts have been used in orthopaedics for many years. They have become standard treatment in certain kinds of fractures, for treatment of non union of fractures and in facilitating fusions. Traditionally bone grafts have been taken from the pelvis leg or arm of the patient and transferred after harvest to the area of the body which needed the bone for healing. The transferred bone would then incorporate into the surgical site and hopefully lead to increased healing.
There are two type of bone graft available inthe human body. Cortical bone is the outside of the bones. Cortical bone is dense, hard and is a good structural graft. Cancellous bone is in the inside of the bones and is not a dense or strong but it contains blood marrow cells which can provide bone progenitor cells and hormones cusch as bone morphogenic protein which can stimualte bone growth. Each type has the ability to act as a scaffold for further bone growth. The choice of the type of bone depends on the mechanical and biologic situation and sometimes both are needed. Usually bone graft is taken from the iliac crest (the pelvis) a good source of either cortical or cancellous bone.. Both arms or legs could be used however depending on the amount of bone needed and the ultimate destination of the graft. Often a small graft from the forearm can suffice for a graft to the wrist, for example.
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