The use of banked femoral head bone allograft in spinal surgery

A safe, simple, and inexpensive method of harvesting femoral head allograft bone and storing it in a mechanical deep-freeze is discussed. This banked bone has been used in 39 patients for posterior spinal fusions. The allograft bone was used only where insufficient autograft bone could be harvested, where the autograft bone was regarded as inferior in quality or when harvesting autograft bone would have been hazardous to the patient. The allograft bone was found to be very reliable in helping to achieve a solid spinal fusion.