Coimbra University Hospitals' bone and tissue bank: twenty-two years of experience

We report the microbiological contamination rate of sterilely procured 3953 tissue allografts obtained during 22 years of activity for musculoskeletal reconstruction from 1982 to 2003. From 1987 to 2000, allograft retrievals were performed in 191 cadaveric donors and in 323 living donors. In the former group 30 retrievals (15.7%) were excluded based on laboratory criteria. Among living donors 108 femoral heads (33.4%) were also excluded by the same criteria. The microbiological contamination rate of sterilely procured allografts in the operating room was 8.3% for cadaveric donors and 18.2% for living donors. A questionable positive serology for HIV antigen was registered in two non-heart-beating donors. Hepatitis C virus antibodies were positive in two other non-heart-beating donors. Hepatitis B virus serological markers were positive or questionable in more than 11 non-heart-beating donors. In living donors 20 femoral heads were excluded (6.1%) due a positive or questionable hepatitis B virus serology. One femoral head donor showed a positive HTLV-I antibody and another one a positive syphilis serology. No positive serology cases for the HIV antibodies were found. No cases were registered of transmission of viral diseases from the donor to the recipient. Our extremely rigorous criteria led to the exclusion of a considerable number of both donors and allografts.