What is the effect of ultraviolet light on bone allograft?
We have an ultraviolet light box in the office for sterilizing instruments that can not be sterilized in the autoclave. The assistant placed a bottle of recently opened bone allograft ( cortical and cancellous mixture) overnight in it. Will the ultraviolet be harmful to the allograft, or is it possibly even beneficial?
3 Comments on What is the effect of ultraviolet light on bone allograft?
New comments are currently closed for this post.
Dr. Gerald Rudick
2/16/2016
Cortical and cancellous allograft particulate graft additives are very expensive, and you certainly do not want to throw out what is left over in the bottle. Simply put the rubber stopper back over the vial, , if it so not tight, add a piece of tape and place the vial in a steam sterilze pouch and run it through your sterilizer.... it will sterilize thoroughly, and the steam and heat will not affect the product.
Dennis Flanagan DDS MSc
2/16/2016
UV may be superfluous. It is a disinfectant that can energize a metallic surface such as titanium but I don't know what it would do to an organic surface. I would guess that it would not damage the allograft for a 15 minute exposure. Industry uses 48 hours for complete disinfection. Note this is disinfection and not sterilization.
Dennis Flanagan DDS MSc
Dennis Thompson
2/17/2016
Please, please do not autoclave allograft products. Not only will you destroy all of the miniscule amounts of BMP, but also the organic structural integrity. Only Xenografts were ever given FDA clearance for re-use following a proper steam autoclave protocol AND that protocol has been rescinded. These products are sold as single use for a reason; I'll let you figure out why??
