Fig. 1

Depiction of the RIA 2 system for harvesting intramedullary BG (mixture of BM and bone chips) and the novel aspirator prototype for BM harvesting as well as for the R–A method (harvesting bone chips). The RIA 2 system is comprised of a reamer head connected to a drive shaft, which is located in a tube assembly. This construct is connected to an aspiration port, which is connected to the operating room wall vacuum over a graft filter to capture the BG. BG harvesting with the RIA 2 device is a one-step procedure with continuous flow of irrigation fluid during reaming, which allows for evacuation of diluted BM and bone chips. The novel aspirator prototype allows for harvesting BM after opening the bone by intruding the intramedullary canal with a specific cannula under continuous suction. Optionally, after emptying the medullary canal of BM, bone chips can be harvested applying iterative intramedullary reaming and aspiration (R–A method). Partially created with BioRender.com