An Analysis of Bone Donor Deferral Rates in Scotland – a 6-Year Study

Abstract

Background: The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) is the main provider of tissues in Scotland. Tissue collection programmes were established in the mid-1990s, and the range of tissues collected has increased progressively over the years. Methods: Whilst the majority of tissues are obtained from cadaveric donations, bone is collected only from living donors who are usually patients undergoing primary hip replacement surgery (surgical donors). The bone is collected in an operating theatre, and, once stored, no further processing takes place prior to issue. Bone that fails for any reason (quality, microbiology or virological nonnegative result) is discarded. Results: The deferral rate amongst live surgical bone donors in Scotland is around 65%, and it has been slowly and progressively rising from around 55% over the past few years. This needed investigated, particularly because comparisons with blood donors show that the deferral rate amongst bone donors is more than double that of first-time blood donors (29.7%). Our processes and systems are standardised, and our cohort of bone bank nurses have all been similarly trained and competency assessed. Moreover our data collection was done in a uniform fashion. It was therefore possible to conduct a 6-year audit on bone donor deferrals. It was found that a history of transfusion (16%), history of malignancy (18%) and bone quality (26%) were the main reasons for bone donor deferrals, accounting for 60% of all deferrals. Conclusions: When these are taken into account, the residual deferral rates become very similar numerically to blood donors. It is important to note however that there are significant differences between the blood and bone donor cohorts. This study also highlighted some of deferral reasons. Particularly malignancy is a cause of significant numbers of deferrals, and the evidence of transmissibility of malignancy through bone donation is not strong. More robust risk assessments should be undertaken prior to implementing deferral conditions.