Patent ID: 8158379

Claim:
A method of determining contamination of a chosen allograft product, comprising: (a) providing an extraction fluid in a given volume sufficient to fully immerse the chosen allograft product; (b) immersing the chosen allograft product separate from other allograft products into said extraction fluid; (c) agitating said extraction fluid in which the allograft products are immersed so as to dislodge any microbial contaminants from the chosen allograft product; (d) removing the allograft products from said extraction fluid; (e) filtering an entire amount of the given volume of the extraction fluid with a filter membrane to produce an extract filtered from the entire amount of the given volume of said extraction fluid, and said extract having a higher concentration of the any microbial contaminants dislodged from the chosen allograft product than said extraction fluid; and (f) analyzing the extract filtered from the entire amount of the given volume of said extraction fluid for contamination so as to determine contamination of the chosen allograft product; wherein during said agitating step, said extraction fluid is contained within an extraction vessel comprising an outer container and a foraminous inner container positioned within said outer container; during said agitating step, said allograft products are located within said inner container; and said step of removing the allograft products from said extraction fluid comprises removing said inner container from said outer container; wherein said agitating step comprises sonicating said extraction fluid at a frequency and duration sufficient to dislodge contaminants from the allograft products while maintaining the viability of any microbial contaminants dislodged from the allograft products and while maintaining the integrity of the allograft products without diminishing biomechanical properties of the allograft products.