New from PubMed:

While it has been established that autologous bone graft is the standard for bone grafting, techniques used during surgery following harvest to preserve graft vitality have not been well studied. Researchers at the University Hospital of Aachen in Germany investigated various intraoperative storage options and preservation techniques on human cancellous bone in order to determine a method that best preserved graft vitality. The methods tested included storing harvested cancellous bone for 2 and 4 hours under dry conditions, inside a saline-moistened swab, or in saline or 5% glucose solution. Dry storage conditions led to significantly lower cell metabolism, and should be avoided. Saline or 5% glucose solution were found to be the best conditions for intraoperative bone storage, followed by a moistened swab.

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