The organization of tissue banking in Scotland

Tissue banking in Scotland has developed significantly over the past 20 years or so. The range of issues procured has increased and so have their numbers. Initially, bone from live donors was the only tissue banked; later, tissues from multiorgan donors were procured; this was finally followed by the collection of tissues from donors following cardiac death. Bones, tendons, heart valves and skin are the main tissue types collected, stored and issued for clinical use. Much of our activity is based on identification of donors in two major accident and emergency departments followed by retrievals that take place in a dedicated mortuary by fully-trained staff. Tissues are released according to clinical need for Scottish patients and beyond. All of the tissue banking activity in Scotland takes place within the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, which is the preferred provider of tissues for Scottish patients. There is very close cooperation between our teams, the transplant teams and other clinical colleagues, including pathologists and anatomical technicians. The achievements in issue banking in Scotland are outlined along with the main clinical indications of the tissue procured. Diversification is now taking place into cellular therapy with the establishment of an islet processing programme and cell culturing techniques. The future is very exciting.