Cardiovascular tissue banking in the non-cadaveric setting: ten-year experience of a university hospital-based bank with active organ donation program.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Today, transplantation of cardiovascular tissues is common practice, and tissue banking has become routine. Consequently, many institutions exist which carry out high-quality tissue banking. METHODS: The Hospital Clinico of the University of Barcelona established its cardiovascular tissue bank in 1989. The bank follows international and national regulations, and functions as a non-profit-making organization. Organ and tissue donors are recruited by the Transplant Coordination unit, which works closely with the Catalonian Organ Transplant Network (OCAT) and the Spanish National Organ Transplantation Network (ONT). The hearts are removed during multi-organ donation and processed using aseptic techniques in a laminar flow hood. Hearts are only accepted from brain-dead multiorgan and non-beating-heart donors. The heart valves are dissected, decontaminated, cryopreserved in specific media and stored in liquid nitrogen at -196 degrees C under strict bacteriological and serological control. RESULTS: Between 1989 and 1999, a series of 1,005 cardiovascular donors from within Spain was identified, from which 840 hearts were processed. After evaluation, 1,099 (65.4%) valves were cryopreserved, and 1,023 (61.5%) given clearance for implantation. In total, 534 aortic, 530 pulmonary, 33 mitral and two tricuspid valves were processed; ultimately 92.8% of aortic and 93.9% of pulmonary valves were accepted for clinical implantation. The rejection rate was 39.1%. Homografts were transported to their destination in dry ice in a cryogenic container. Overall, 608 valves were implanted at our own institution and at hospitals in Barcelona and Europe. Only two cases of complaint were received from implanting surgeons. CONCLUSION: After ten years' experience, the degree of satisfaction of implanting surgeons appears to be adequate. Strict control of the entire tissue banking process has permitted the availability of high-quality homografts for clinical implantation.