Cost comparison of femoral head banking versus bone substitutes.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the costs of femoral head banking versus bone substitutes.


METHODS
Records of femoral head banking from 1998 to 2008 were reviewed. The cost of allogenic cancellous bone graft was calculated by estimating the direct expenditure of femoral head procurement, screening tests, and storage, and then divided by the amount of bone harvested.


RESULTS
326 females and 141 males (mean age, 80.3 years) donated 470 femoral heads. Each transplantable femoral head costs US$978. Each gram of transplantable allogenic bone graft costs US$86, compared with US$9 to 26 per gram for commercially available bone substitutes.


CONCLUSIONS
Compared with bone substitutes, femoral head banking in Hong Kong was less economical. Unless allografts yield superior outcomes, harvesting femoral heads for general usage (such as filling bone voids for fresh fractures) is not justified from a financial perspective, especially in banks dedicated to procuring bone from femoral heads only.
Leung
Hon-Bong
HB
Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong. adrianleunghb@yahoo.com
Fok
Margaret Woon-Man
MW
Chow
Lorraine Chi-Yan
LC
Yen
Chi-Hung
CH
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip; D018586:Bone Banks / Q000191:economics*; D018786:Bone Substitutes / Q000191:economics*; D016025:Bone Transplantation / Q000191:economics*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005260:Female; D005270:Femur Head / Q000637:transplantation*; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D006882:Hydroxyapatites / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000191:economics*
D018786:Bone Substitutes; D006882:Hydroxyapatites; C094280:hydroxyapatite-tricalciumphosphate composite