Frozen musculoskeletal allografts. A study of the clinical incidence and causes of infection associated with their use.

A retrospective study was performed to determine the clinical incidence and causes of infection related to the use of frozen musculoskeletal allografts. The results of this study of 324 grafts, prepared and supplied by our hospital bone bank, showed that the patients in whom femoral head grafts and other small bone and soft-tissue allografts were used had a negligible clinical incidence of infection. The incidence of infection related to the use of large allografts, such as osteoarticular or diaphyseal grafts, was approximately 5 per cent in patients who had treatment for a bone tumor and 4 per cent in those who had revision of a hip arthroplasty. These rates of infection were not substantially different from those that have been reported in similar series in which large allografts or sterilized prosthetic devices were used. The causes of the infections were difficult to determine, but contamination of the allograft was probably not a factor in most patients.