Invasiveness of Tibial Bone Graft Harvesting for Secondary Alveolar Bone Grafting: Can Harvesting Be Performed at the Age of Less Than 10 Years Without Complications?

Purpose In this study, particulate cancellous bone marrow was harvested from the tibia for alveolar bone grafting, and postoperative complications at the donor site were compared between patients aged 10 years or older (29 tibias) and those aged younger than 10 years (42 tibias). Patients and Methods Enrolled patients were those who underwent tibial bone graft harvesting at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Aichi Gakuin University, during a period of 3 years and 1 month from March 2012 through March 2015. We examined clinical findings at the time of harvesting and changes in symptoms during hospital admission in study 1. Follow-up examinations and survey questionnaires on symptoms also were investigated to clarify medium- to long-term postoperative outcomes in study 2. Results In both age groups, medium- to long-term postoperative findings showed no apparent adverse events, except for acceptable levels of scar tissue. Clinical findings on harvesting and early postoperative findings showed that intraoperative blood loss, early postoperative pain, and gait disorders were similar between the group aged younger than 10 years and the group aged 10 years or older. However, the latter group needed a considerably longer time for ambulation and weight-bearing pain to disappear and for every movement in daily activities to return to normal. Regarding patients with a bilateral alveolar cleft, we found no significant difference between the first and second harvesting in the factors affecting postoperative morbidity. Conclusions Our findings suggest that tibial bone graft harvesting is safe and requires a shorter recovery period even in patients aged between 8 and 10 years.