Background: The EU guidelines 2004/23/EG and 2006/17/EG and their national implementation redefine the framework for allogenic bone banking and transplantation. Against this background an established internal hospital bone bank was analysed concerning threshold of allogenic bone and cost effectiveness in comparison to alternative methods.
Method: Over a 30-month period we registered all arrivals and outgoings of our bone bank and their destination. We further noted all declined donations. We analysed all costs incurred and calculated costs for alternative methods.
Results: By means of our bone bank we are currently able to meet our own demand for bone substitutes. The maintenance costs are below the prices of alternative methods. Some donations (8%) have to be discarded due to procedural errors.
Conclusion: Maintaining an internal hospital bone bank utilizing fresh-frozen allogenic bone is an efficient and cost-effective method of supplying bone substitutes even under the new EU guidelines if the existing process covers most conditions of the producer authorisation according to section sign 13 AMG. By harmonizing the organizational process it is possible to further improve its effectiveness.