Detection of occult disease in tissue donors by routine autopsy

The transmission of infectious and neoplastic diseases is a potential risk of tissue allografting. In this study, we analyzed the occurrence of occult disease in tissue donors as detected by standard screening and autopsy. Whereas 18% of the potential donors initially evaluated were eliminated on the basis of their medical and social histories, laboratory screening and autopsy revealed that an additional 9% of tissue donors had undetected, transmissible disease that prohibited tissue donation. This report emphasizes once again the risk of occult disease being transplanted with grafts and the need for autopsy to reduce the likelihood of this occurring. If donor selection, appropriate screening tests, and autopsy are carefully carried out, the risk of transmitting diseases from tissue allografts can be kept to a minimum.