Allografts: expanding the surgeon's armamentarium

Abstract

In Germany, bone allografts are widely used and their application in clinics has increased over the years. Successful use of allografts depends on many factors such as the procurement, processing, sterilization and the surgeon's surgical experience. Tissue banks have provided safe and sterile allografts for decades ranging from hard to soft tissue. Allografts are obtained from various tissues such as bone, tendon, amniotic membrane, meniscus and skin. An advantage of allografts is their wide applicability that has never been limited by indication restrictions thus providing a huge benefit for surgeon's. The use of the correct allograft in different indications is extremely important. Thereby surgeons have access to various allograft forms such as mineralized, demineralized, freeze-dried, paste, powder, chips strips and putty. The vast options of allografts allow surgeon's to use allografts in indications they deem fit. Currently, the application of allografts is at the discretion of the expert surgeon. However, regulations are often changed locally or internationally and may impact/limit allograft use to certain indications. Here, we report the different indications where our peracetic acid (PAA) sterilised bone allografts were used as well as general literature on bone allograft use in other indications.

Keywords: Allograft; Bone; Peracetic acid sterilization; Soft tissue; Tissue banking.

Fig. 1

PAA sterilized human acellular dermal matrix use in different locations according to the allograft register. Other lower extremities include hip, ankle joint, tibia/fibula and foot. Other upper extremities include hand, elbow, face and humerus. Data derived from the DIZG allograft database