How safe is allograft bone?
As bone grafting using allograft bone has become more widely used, the methods of screening donors, bone preparation and storage have been vastly improved in regards to diminishing the chances of disease transmission. Studies indicate that the risk of contacting HIV infection through the use of allograft bone is less than 1 per 1 million uses. Who Needs Bone Grafting? Your surgeon may want to use bone grafting for a number of reasons. Possible reasons include situations where healing may be difficult due to the use of nicotine (which has been shown in medical studies to limit healing of the spine) or the presence of diseases such as diabetes or autoimmune deficiencies. Other possible reasons include a large amount of bone or disc material that is removed during surgery, or spinal procedures that span many levels of vertebrae. One of the most common uses of bone grafts in spine surgery is during spinal fusion. The use of autogenous bone grafts for spinal fusion has been a standard in th
