Exploring the Role of Intraoperative Positive Culture of Allograft Bone in Subsequent Postoperative Infections among Donors and Recipients in Bone Bank Processing

Abstract

Background: Allografts have been frequently used in orthopedic procedures. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the discard rates and bacterial contamination of a bone bank, and to assess the clinical outcomes of recipients with bacterial culture-positive donor allografts. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 1764 allografts which were harvested from living donors and stored in a bone bank from 2018 to 2022. The donors whose allografts displayed bacterial contamination at retrieval of the primary hip or knee arthroplasty were followed for microbiology and subsequent prosthetic joint infection analysis. The infected pathogens, antibiotic treatment and subsequent infection were reviewed for the intraoperative positive culture group. Results: The discard rate was 17%, and the bacterial contamination rate of bone retrieval was 2.15%. Thirty-eight allografts at retrieval displayed confirmed bacterial growth, and 37 patients did not reveal infective signs at 6 months follow-up. A total of 1464 allografts were stored and implanted, among which 28 allografts (1.91%) were confirmed to be positive for bacterial growth and 13 cases (0.89%) were confirmed as surgical site infections. Conclusions: Our results validate the suggestion that our bone bank system performs good quality monitoring to eliminate the risk of dissemination of viral and bacterial diseases and to decrease surgical site infection after allograft implantation. By ensuring aseptic conditions and contamination-reducing strategies during harvesting and thawing, the allografts can be safely stored and implanted while limiting bacterial contamination. Our findings confirm that the intraoperative positive cultures of allografts did not contribute to subsequent postoperative surgical site infection in donors and recipients.