Some surgeons use cadaver (donor) rib cartilage instead of cartilage taken from your own body. Clinics call it bank cartilage, cadaver cartilage, cadaveric cartilage or homologous cartilage. For how it sits next to septum, ear and your own rib, see nasal cartilage grafts compared.

Key takeaways

  • Bank, donor, cadaver and homologous cartilage describe the same idea: cartilage from a human donor, processed by a tissue bank, used as a graft in your nose.
  • Published studies give no lifespan for donor cartilage grafts; the 2020 meta-analysis followed patients for about 2 years on average (studies ranged from 6 to 48 months), and the 2022 review's abstract mentions one-year follow-up.
  • A 2020 meta-analysis found no difference in warping, resorption, infection, contour irregularity or revision between your own rib cartilage and donor rib cartilage in dorsal grafts.
  • Revision cases report higher rates (9.25% to 15.7% in one review), so ask which product the clinic uses and where it comes from.

What is bank cartilage?

In rhinoplasty, cartilage supports and shapes the nose. Surgeons usually build grafts from the patient’s own cartilage, taken from the septum, the ear or the rib. This is called autologous cartilage. When the patient does not have enough, for example after earlier surgery, a surgeon may use cartilage that was donated, processed and stored by a tissue bank. This is an allograft, also called homologous cartilage.

Clinical papers describe specific products, such as irradiated homologous costal (rib) cartilage and fresh-frozen rib cartilage. “Bank cartilage” is not a standard clinical term, and online pages use it loosely, sometimes for a patient’s own cartilage that was stored from an earlier operation. That is a different thing, so ask which one is meant. The same applies to “cadaver cartilage”, the term used on many clinic pages. Here, both phrases mean donor cartilage.

How does donor cartilage compare with your own?

Three systematic reviews give numbers. They study different groups, so their figures are not directly comparable.

  • Autologous versus donor rib cartilage: a 2020 meta-analysis in JAMA Otolaryngology of dorsal augmentation compared autologous costal cartilage (748 patients), irradiated homologous costal cartilage (153) and a commercially processed donor cartilage (140). It found no difference in warping, resorption, contour irregularity, infection or revision surgery.
  • Donor cartilage alone: a 2022 meta-analysis of 959 patients with irradiated homologous costal cartilage reported pooled complication rates of 2.07% for warping, 1.77% for infection, 1.34% for resorption, 2.13% for displacement, 0.16% for extrusion and 2.99% for revision. Its authors concluded that long-term complication rates were low, with revision and displacement the most common.
  • Revision rhinoplasty: a 2025 systematic review compared two kinds of donor cartilage in revision cases. The overall complication rates were 9.25% for fresh-frozen rib graft (406 patients) and 15.7% for irradiated homologous costal cartilage (66 patients), with infection the main complication. Satisfaction improved with both.

A fourth source gives the other side. A 2015 meta-analysis of autologous rib cartilage found low rates of warping (3.08%), infection (0.56%) and resorption (0.22%), but also hypertrophic chest scarring in 5.45% of patients and revision surgery in 14.07%. Donor cartilage avoids the chest incision, which is one reason surgeons consider it.

Revision cases are harder than first-time surgery, so higher complication rates in that group do not show that donor cartilage itself is worse. The evidence is not strong enough to rank the options, and all of these papers rely on small studies and different definitions of a complication.

How long does cadaver cartilage last?

Published studies do not state a lifespan for donor cartilage grafts, so a flat “it lasts for life” or “it dissolves in a few years” on a clinic page is not backed by the studies below. What the reviews report is complication rates. The 2022 meta-analysis of irradiated rib cartilage pooled 959 patients and found resorption in 1.34% and warping in 2.07%. The 2020 meta-analysis found no difference in resorption between your own rib cartilage and donor rib cartilage. It reports mean follow-up of about 23 months for autologous rib cartilage (studies ranged from 6 to 48 months; 8 studies did not report follow-up), about 31 months for irradiated donor rib cartilage and about 19 months for the processed donor cartilage. The 2022 meta-analysis names revision and displacement as the most common problems at one-year follow-up, and its abstract gives no longer figure.

Resorption and warping were uncommon in the pooled studies, and the reviews give no five- or ten-year results for the grafts; study mean follow-up in the 2020 analysis reached 48 months at most. Resorption means the graft shrinks over time, and revision rates were higher in the revision-surgery review above. Ask your surgeon for the product’s follow-up data, over how many years, and from which patients.

What are the risks of donor cartilage?

The papers above track warping (bending of the graft), resorption (the graft shrinking), infection, displacement, extrusion and the need for revision. Rejection was not a measured outcome in these studies, so no rejection rate is quoted, and the “very rare” claims on some clinic pages are not backed by them.

Synthetic materials are a separate category. A West Suffolk NHS leaflet notes that synthetic material such as Gore-Tex or Silastic has a greater risk of rejection or infection than the body’s own tissue. Our guide to silicone implants in revision rhinoplasty covers that route.

Is donor cartilage available in Turkey?

The sources cited here do not set out which donor cartilage products are used for rhinoplasty in Turkey or how they are regulated and supplied. In common practice in Turkey, donor cartilage is rarely used, and most surgeons prefer the patient’s own cartilage (editorial note, October 2026). If a clinic does offer donor cartilage, ask:

  • What exactly is the product (name, type, processing such as irradiation or freezing)?
  • How long have patients with this exact product been followed, and what did they find?
  • Where does it come from, and can you show the documents that trace it to a licensed tissue bank?
  • What does it add to the quote?
  • Why do you propose it for me instead of my own septum, ear or rib cartilage?
  • What are your rates of warping, infection and revision with this graft?

What should you ask about your own cartilage options?

Compare every option by what it costs in scars, pain and risk. Our guide to rib cartilage in primary rhinoplasty explains why the “rib” taken for grafts is cartilage, not bone, and the article on ear cartilage in revision rhinoplasty covers that donor site. If you are thinking about revision, read our overview of revision rhinoplasty. Some patients have ethical or personal concerns about tissue from a deceased donor, and it is reasonable to raise them. Your surgeon should explain the alternatives without pressure.

Sources

All pages were opened and checked on 10 October 2026.