Abstract
With increasing use and availability of musculoskeletal soft tissue allografts, orthopaedic surgeons need cur rent knowledge about allograft processing, costs, and availability. In conjunction with the American Associa tion of Tissue Banks, a comprehensive survey consist ing of specific questions on several topics in tissue banking was sent to 42 member banks or banks un dergoing accreditation review that distribute musculo skeletal tissues. Donors came from organ procurement organizations, coroners' offices, hospital morgues, and donations; the average age of the donors was 35. Most of the 36 tissue banks responding to the questionnaire harvest patellar and Achilles tendons. Patellar tendon demand exceeded supply. Tissue processing was done by outside organizations approximately 50% of the time. Of the four types of tissue sterilization pro cesses performed, gamma irradiation was the most common. Doses of sterilizing gamma irradiation varied from 1 to 3.5 mrad. The average approximate costs of fresh-frozen tissue were $800 for patellar tendon al lograft, $615 for Achilles tendon, and $640 for menisci. There was no consensus of opinion of how to size or sterilize meniscal allografts. As demand increases for soft tissue allografts, it is essential that the orthopaedic surgeon is knowledgeable about the clinical impact of tissue banking.
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