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More infection problems with allograft tissue
Posted By: SueBW <sbwestin@csmref.org>
Date: Monday, 8 December 2003, at 1:31 p.m.
Just received from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' (AAOS) Communications Department, report dated 12/8/03:
1. CDC reports new case of allograft-associated infection with knee ligament.
The Dec. 5 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) published by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) included a report on a case of invasive disease with Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus-GAS) after reconstructive knee surgery using contaminated allograft tissue.
The case involved a 17-year-old boy who underwent elective anterior cruciate ligament repair with a hemi-patellar tendon allograft at an ambulatory surgical center and later developed an infection that necessitated hospitalization and several days of treatment.
The allograft tissue came from a donor who had died of a drug overdose. Tendon allografts from the donor had been implanted in five other patients; as of Dec. 1, no other adverse outcomes had been reported. Tissues had been distributed to two separate tissue processors. Both identified GAS in preprocessing tissue cultures; one impounded all samples, the other treated the tissues and when postprocessing cultures were reported as negative, distributed the tissues.
The New York Times reported that the contaminated tissue was supplied by Cryolife, Inc., the Kennesaw, Ga. company that also supplied knee tissue to Brian Lykins in November 2001. Brian Lykins subsequently died from an infection later traced to the donor. The AAOS is in contact with the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, and the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) and will provide members with additional information, as it is available.
To review the current report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5248a1.htm
SueBW
