Histopathology of retrieved allografts of the femoral head

From November 1994 to March 1997, we harvested 137 grafts of the femoral he ad from 125 patients for donation during total hip arthroplasty according t o the guidelines of the American Associations of Tissue Banks (AATB) and th e European Association of Musculo-Skeletal transplantation (EAMST), Tn addi tion to the standards recommended by these authorities, we performed histop athological examination of a core biopsy of the retrieved bone allograft an d of the synovium, Of the 137 allografts, 48 (35.0%) fulfilled all criteria and were free for donation; 31 (22.6%) were not regarded as suitable for transplantation beca use the serological retests at six months were mot yet complete and 58 (42. 3%) were discarded because of incomplete data. Of those discarded, five sho wed abnormal histopathological findings; three were highly suspicious of lo w-grade B-cell lymphoma, one of monoclonal plasmacytosis and the other of n on-specific inflammation of bone marrow However, according to the standards of the AATB or EAMST they all met the criteria and were eligible for trans plantation. Our findings indicate that the incidence of abnormal histopathology in thes e retrieved allografts was 3.6%, Since it is essential to confirm the quali ty of donor bones in bone banking, we advise that histopathological screeni ng of donor bone should be performed to exclude abnormal allografts.