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.
This is in case of the unlikely adverse reaction caused by the tissue graft, such as infection or transmissible disease.
All tissue is cultured and tested for communicable diseases, but there is always a very remote chance of an unforeseen occurrence. Therefore, there is a paper trail of data that leads from the donor to the recipient. This is called a tracking record and is placed in your hospital chart at surgery. Each tissue has a unique identification number, which accompanies the tracking record and includes the tissue processor.
If there is ever an adverse reaction that your surgeon feels was caused by the tissue graft, the tissue processor can be notified. The processor can then see if the tissue affected any other patients, and samples may be retested. Also, if other patients have had a reaction to a tissue graft, all tissue from that donor can be quarantined. If that tissue has already been transplanted, your doctor can be notified and preventive maintenance steps, such as antibiotic therapy, can be taken.
Since 1986, Hartford Hospital has not had a substantiated situation involving a patient having an adverse reaction related to the implantation of allograft tissue.