Theoretic rates of potential tissue donation in a university hospital

Catalonia and Spain have the highest rates of organ donation in the world. The National Transplant Organization studied the rates of potential and actual donors through the Quality Guarantee Program, but this research did not estimate potential tissue donation (PTD). The aim of this study was to define the theoretical rates of PTD at our university hospital in order to assess the main factors that exerted the greatest influence on tissue donation (TD).

We prospectively studied all deaths from May 1, of 2001 to May 31, of 2002 using a specific protocol. The selection of cornea, vessels, skin, and bone had been established by the recommendations of the Spanish Association of Tissue Banks (AEBT). We considered each deceased person as a PTD when there was no medical contraindication (MC), and obtained blood samples for serologic determinations.

Among the 1960 deaths, 1444 (73.6%) displayed MC for TD. Only 516 (26.3%) patients were evaluated as PTD cases. Two hundred twenty-two cases (65%) were rejected due to lack of blood samples for serologic determination. The remaining 294 PTD cases were considered: family refusal of TD in 120 (40%) and consent in 174 (60%). All were corneal donors; 46 (26%) had been multitissue donors (20 vessels, 35 skin, and 30 bones) including 26 (56.5%) who were also organ donors.

PTD cases at a university hospital represented about 25% of deaths but only 30% of PTDs actually became donors.