Detection of bacterial contamination in bone marrow graft.

A rapid method of determining bacterial contamination was used in a series of fifty-five bone marrow harvests (20 allogeneic and 35 autologous transplantations). The microbiological culture assays executed on bone marrow samples soon after the harvest and before the manipulation, showed a positivity only in the autologous bone marrow group. Another positivity was revealed after the freezing process of bone marrows for autologous transplantation. Two samples in the bone marrow group submitted to purging were positive after treatment and freezing process. In this study, the increase of bacterial contamination frequency seemed to be related to extensive handlings, such as pharmacological in vitro purging and freezing procedures.