Vascular tissue banking: state of the art

The cardiovascular homograft banks in Italy were set up in 1994 in Milan (Lombardia) and Treviso (Veneto) and in 2001 in Bologna, Emilia Romagna. In this study we briefly summarize the data from Emilia Romagna Cardiovascular Tissue Bank.

In Emilia Romagna, vascular homografts were harvested from brain-dead multiorgan donors (aged 15-55 years) by a dedicated vascular surgery team. All donors were virologically screened for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B and C, Treponema pallidum, cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Toxoplasma. After transferring the vascular homografts to Emilia Romagna Cardiovascular Tissue Bank facilities, the arteries were prepared, classified (class III to I), and transferred to an antibiotic-containing solution under a laminar flow cabinet. After the decontamination, all homografts were cryopreserved and stored in the vapour phase of liquid nitrogen. Microbiological tests were performed in all phases of preparation. Samples were routinely taken from 1 vessel and formalin fixed for the histology. Bags with cryopreserved homografts were sent in dry ice to the hospitals when required and thawing protocol of the Bank was included.

From January 2002 to October 2004, 543 homografts from 125 heart-beating donors were harvested and transferred to Emilia Romagna Cardiovascular Tissue Bank. After preparation, 459 of 543 (85%) were cryopreserved and stored. Vascular homografts classified class I were discarded. Other criteria of rejection were: (1) positive serology, and (2) persistent positive microbiology after decontamination. From March 2002, 333 cryopreserved homografts were assigned to several vascular surgery departments in Italy. The assessment of 3-year activity of Emilia Romagna Cardiovascular Tissue Bank might be used as an indicator of the efficiency of selecting, cryopreserving, and allocating quality-controlled vascular homografts.