How should donated tissue be obtained and processed?

Specialists should recover and process donated musculoskeletal tissues.

These specialist should be well trained, having passed a rigorous examination and should have knowledge in all areas of tissue banking.

Proper Procedure of Obtaining Donor Tissue should include determining if high-risk donors are present, whether the tissue is quarantined until microbiological and blood tests are completed, as is
required by the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) and by the U.S. FDA.

According to the AATB, no allograft can be released until the tissue bank�s medical director determines the tissue to be safe after review of the screening and testing information. When processing is done, it must be harvested in a sterile manner, with removal of debris and organic matter, with repeated washings, and with immersion in ethanol. Thereafter, it should be treated by freezing in Liquid Nitrogen, Demineralization, Vacuum sealing, and with ginal processing of tissues to be tested for microbiological contamination in accordance with USP guidelines.

The risk can be reduced even if there is always theoretical risk for disease transmission. Thus, allografts must have undergone a rigorous donor screening, serological testing, formal processing. The screening should include:

• Blood Group Antibodies
  
• Hepatitis B Surface Antigen
  
• Antibody to Hepatitis B Core
  
• Antibody to Hepatitis C virus
  
• Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT)
  
• Antibody to HTLV- 1 and 2
  
• Antibody to HIV 1 and 2
  
• Syphilis