Bone contamination and blood culture in tissue donors.

Introduction: Swab cultures are the most usual method to detect graft contamination; nevertheless it has been confirmed his limited sensibility. We have studied the relationship between blood cultures, swab surface cultures and cultures of entirely samples of cancellous bone.
Material and Methods: We have evaluated 5 donors with positive blood culture, from 70 multiorganic donors during 2002. Blood samples were obtained prior the heart arrest. The bone procurement was done just after the organ recovery under aseptic conditions, and surface cultures were performed of each bone. After storage at -80 degrees C, cancellous samples were obtained by trephine and were completely cultured.
Results: In one case, the same microorganism grown in blood culture, in 2 of 9 surface cultures, and in 15 of 26 samples of cancellous bone.
Conclusion: We conclude that to guarantee allograft's safety it is recommended to add donor's blood culture to the habitual surface swab culture if secondary sterilisation is not performed.