A retrospective study was performed to determine the clinical incidence
and causes of infection related to the use of frozen musculoskeletal
allografts. The results of this study of 324 grafts, prepared and supplied
by our hospital bone bank, showed that the patients in whom femoral head
grafts and other small bone and soft-tissue allografts were used had a
negligible clinical incidence of infection. The incidence of infection
related to the use of large allografts, such as osteoarticular or
diaphyseal grafts, was approximately 5 per cent in patients who had
treatment for a bone tumor and 4 per cent in those who had revision of a
hip arthroplasty. These rates of infection were not substantially different
from those that have been reported in similar series in which large
allografts or sterilized prosthetic devices were used. The causes of the
infections were difficult to determine, but contamination of the allograft
was probably not a factor in most patients.