Freeze-dried allograft versus autograft bone in scoliosis surgery. A retrospective comparative study.

Two groups of 36 patients who underwent posterior vertebral fusion for scoliosis were compared retrospectively; the postoperative follow-up was 2 years. Autogenous bone taken from the iliac crest was used in group A, whereas the patients in group B received freeze-dried allograft from our bone bank. There was no significant difference between the two groups in maintenance of the curve correction after the same delay, nor in incidence of complications. A reduction of blood loss or operating time, however, could not be demonstrated in our study.