Organ Donation and Tissue Banking
Organ Donation and Tissue Banking
Source: 1• American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) – Standards for Tissue Banking, 15th Edition (2025)
2• International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) – Donor Heart Selection: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Providers (2023)
— Key Facts
1. Life-saving purpose:
Organ and tissue donation allows one donor to save or improve the lives of up to 8 people and help 50 more through tissue transplantation.
2. Vital organs — heart, liver, kidneys, lungs:
• Can survive only 4–6 minutes without blood supply.
• Must be retrieved from brain-dead donors maintained on mechanical life-support systems (ventilation and circulatory support).
• Transplantation must occur as soon as possible — ideally within a few hours after organ retrieval, during the same surgical session.
• These organs cannot be stored in any bank — they must be transplanted immediately after donation.
3. Tissues — valves, tendons, corneas, bones, skin:
• Can be recovered after cardiac death, as they require much less oxygen.
• Remain viable for 12–24 hours post-mortem if the body is cooled quickly.
4. Tissue banking (not organ banking):
• Banks store non-vital tissues only such as valves, corneas, and bones — not living organs.
• Retrieved tissues are sterilized, tested, and cryopreserved at –150°C to –196°C.
• They remain usable for 5–10 years in certified tissue banks.
5. Example – The Ross Procedure:
• In the Ross operation, the patient’s pulmonary valve replaces the diseased aortic valve.
• The removed pulmonary valve is then replaced with a human homograft (donated valve) retrieved within 12–24 hours after death,
or with a bovine (xenograft) conduit when no homograft is available.
6. Summary:
• The “12–24-hour rule” applies only to non-vital tissues (e.g., valves, corneas, tendons).
• Vital organs must come from brain-dead donors on life support and be transplanted within a few hours during surgery — they are never stored long-term.
