title: Cost comparison of femoral head banking versus bone substitutes.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong. adrianleunghb@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Hon-Bong
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Margaret Woon-Man
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Fok
authors.forename: Lorraine Chi-Yan
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Chow
authors.forename: Chi-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yen
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D018786:Bone Substitutes; D006882:Hydroxyapatites; C094280:hydroxyapatite-tricalciumphosphate composite