Storage of an autogenous cortical bone graft in a subcutaneous pouch with subsequent transplantation.

A 31-year-old motorcyclist presented with an open contaminated comminuted fracture of the shaft of the femur. The extruded diaphyseal segments were stored in a subcutaneous pouch in the thigh and subsequently replaced in the fracture site as a composite graft with iliac bone. The interval of in vito storage provided time for evaluation of infection and apparently allowed the bone to possess a limited degree of viability and function as a fresh autogenous graft.