Tissue Donation

When a hospital patient dies and the expired patient meets tissue-donor criteria, the family may be asked if it is interested in tissue donation.

If there is interest in donation, the following steps may occur:

• Verbal or written consent is obtained from the next of kin.
• A full medical history is acquired at the time of consent.
• Blood is drawn to test for any communicable diseases.
• A surgical team recovers consented tissues, including bone, soft tissue, heart valves, and veins.
• All donor patients are prepped, scrubbed and draped just as they would be for any surgical procedure.
• All instruments and solutions used for the recovery are sterile.
• Surgical technicians specifically trained to remove tissue, scrub, glove and gown into operating room attire.
• Tissues are recovered one at a time.
• Each tissue is cultured as it is recovered then immediately packaged into 3 layers of sterile waterproof bags and packaged at cold temperatures to preserve the tissues.
• At the completion of donation, recovered tissues are packed in a container and transported immediately to the tissue processor.

Also in This Section

Allograft vs. Autograft

A patient's own tissue - an autograft - can often be used for a surgical reconstruction procedure. Allograft tissue, taken from another person, takes longer to incorporate into the recpient’s body .

Tissue Donation

When a hospital patient dies and the expired patient meets tissue-donor criteria, the family may be asked if it is interested in tissue donation.

Tissue Processing

Once tissues are received, the processing organization stores the tissues in temperature controlled sub-zero freezers while donor medical history and the results of cultures and blood tests are reviewed.

Tissue Tracking

The American Association of Tissue Bank and Joint Commission Accredited Hospital Organization require that all human tissues must be able to be tracked from donor to recipient.

Storage and Distribution

Human tissues do not have to be used immediately. They can be stored for a period of time until they are needed.

Implantation and Safety

The chart below lists some of the types of reconstructive surgeries such as orthopedic, neurologic, cardiovascular, spinal, ophthalmologic, and sports medicine that might utilize human tissue. The chart also includes tissue grafts normally used for these surgeries: