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.