Tissue Banks have been created with the purpose of facilitating the use of allografts for the repair or substitution of different types of damaged tissues.
A tissue donor has specific characteristics that make it quite different than an organ donor. This main difference relies on the method of preservation of the graft. An organ should be evaluated and transplanted in a short period of time, whereas a retrieved tissue can be processed and maintained in quarantine so as to provide sufficient time to make all the analytical and microbiological controls or recover all the information required according to the standards followed by the corresponding tissue bank.
The objective of tissue donation is the same as organ transplantation, to substitute or repair a function of an organ or tissue damaged. And the main concern is to guarantee the quality of the entire process: on one hand, the non-transmission of diseases must be assured, and on the other, the retrieval, processing, preservation and distribution must be developed under best conditions, always ensuring full traceability of the transplanted tissues. The Quality and Safety of tissue transplant is essential, as we bear in mind that normally, it is not a medical urgency (as it is for organ transplant) and therefore, the assumption of any risk is not justified. In addition, it is of great importance that a donor may be a tissue source for hundreds of recipients, instead of 7 recipients of solid organs.
Tissue transplant has a fundamental impact in the quality of recipients’ life. In the United States, about 200000 tissues are transplanted per year, whereas the number of organs transplanted per year is approximately 28000.
The activity of a tissue bank can be summarised in four main steps. These are donor screening/identification, procurement, processing/preservation and distribution of human tissues intended for transplantation into a human.
There is a wide variety of tissues that are comprised in a tissue establishment.
These can be divided in four main groups: cardiovascular, ocular, musculoskeletal and skin tissue that can be processed or preserved in different ways: freeze dried, cryopreserved, frozen, cold…
Ill these steps must be controlled to ensure the quality and safety of the tissues, so a Quality System will be mandatory, and certifications or accreditations like ISO recommended.
Due to the growing clinical indications for human transplantation, advances in cell therapy are currently being developed and included in tissue banking activities. The cells that are used for this kind of therapy include condrocytes, keratinocytes, hepatocytes, limbal eye cells and pancreatic islets, and others..
In conclusion, it is of essential matter that the control of the entire tissue banking process – from donor screening to tissue distribution – is guaranteed, so as to ensure the quality and safety of tissues to be transplanted into human recipients.
We must be aware of the continuously-growing indications for transplantation, both in number and type, as well as of the great expectations that the new therapies are providing.