Organ Transplantation Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Organ Transplantation, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery.

Incidence of infection with the use of non-irradiated morcellised allograft bone washed at the time of revision arthroplasty of the hip.

Kwong FN, Ibrahim T, Power RA

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Glenfield Hospital, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Groby Road, Leicester LE3 9QP, UK. fcng@yahoo.com

Implantation of allograft bone is an integral part of revision surgery of the hip. One major concern with its use is the risk of transmission of infective agents. There are a number of methods of processing allograft bone in order to reduce this risk. One method requires washing the tissue using pulsed irrigation immediately before implantation. We report the incidence of deep bacterial infection in 138 patients (144 revision hip arthroplasties) who had undergone implantation of allograft bone. The bone used was fresh-frozen, non-irradiated and pulse-washed with normal saline before implantation. The deep infection rate at a minimum follow-up of one year was 0.7%. This method of processing appears to be associated with a very low risk of allograft-related bacterial infection.

Published 1 November 2005 in J Bone Joint Surg Br, 87(11): 1524-6.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Organ Transplantation Research Today. All Rights Reserved.