ORGANIZATION OF A BONE AND TISSUE-BANK - IMPLICATIONS OF HIV AND HEPATITIS-C FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF BONE AND TISSUE-BANKS

The use of non-treated cryopreserved bone allografts has been criticiz ed followig the publication of new cases of HIV and hepatitis-C infect ion caused by such grafts. However, the ''new'' cases of HIV infection arose in 1984/1985, when HIV testing was not possible. A critical ana lysis of the German bone bank procedures shows that the official guide lines are not adequate. Furthermore, new sterilization techniques are propagated for clinical use. This leads to a false feeling of security , and does not help to solve the problem of virus transmission by way of bone allografts. It is therefore essential that new guidelines for bone bank management be developed as a matter of urgency, with due con sideration for everything known about this problem to date. Our curren t bone bank procedure is presented and the various points in the offic ial guidelines that need updating are discussed, including the necessi ty for 6-month HIV and hepatitis testing modified donor screening, and special guidelines for multiple organ donors.