ROENTGENOGRAPHIC PROCEDURE FOR SELECTING PROXIMAL FEMUR ALLOGRAFT FORUSE IN REVISION ARTHROPLASTY

A roentgenographic scoring system was developed to help orthopaedic su rgeons and bone banks estimate the quality of bone stock in proximal f emoral allografts intended to use in revision arthroplasty. This syste m scores a standardized anteroposterior roentgenograph of the proximal femur using four indices representing morphological features of cance llous and cortical bone known to be clinically associated with bone st rength. The indices were combined to give a weighted score, which was thought to reflect the ability of a bone to carry in vivo loads. Thirt y bones were evaluated for bone mineral density using dual-photon abso rptiometry. They were then sent to another institution and evaluated u sing the newly devised roentgenographic scoring system. The results sh owed that the bone score roentgenographic method is a reasonable techn ique for selecting allograft femurs for transplantation. This roentgen ographic technique and scoring system has now been packaged into kits and is available to orthopaedic surgeons and bone banks for evaluating bone stock quality in proximal femoral allografts intended for transp lantation.