Animation about the procedure in the hospital
What happens when someone becomes a tissue donor after death? A short animation.
Other than at organ donationIn the case of tissue donation, it does not matter where someone dies: at home, in a hospital, a retirement home or in a nursing home. However, strict protocols also apply to tissue donation that the healthcare professionals involved must adhere to.
The tissue donation procedure is as follows:
Consult Donor Register
The (general practitioner who has determined death, consults the Donor Register. If a deceased person is medically suitable for donation, the doctor first consults the Donor Register to find out which choice the deceased has had recorded. The Donor Register can be consulted day and night.
Donor notification
If the deceased person is registered as a donor or if the next of kin give permission, the doctor will register the deceased as a donor with the NTS, the official organ center in the Netherlands. Tissue donation is also possible from someone who has also been an organ donor.
Matching
The NTS has the medical data of all patients waiting for a donor tissue. Based on this medical data, the NTS determines who the most suitable receiving patient is.
Time pressure
If the body of the deceased is cooled within 3 hours, it is often possible to remove tissues for transplantation up to 24 hours after death. If the body is not cooled, the removal or removal must take place within 12 hours after death. This does not apply to heart valves and blood vessels. These tissues should be taken out within 6 hours.
Place of removal
Tissues are removed by a special removal team. Is it about corneas, skin, blood vessels and heart valves, this usually takes place in the autopsy room or mortuary of a hospital or in the funeral home. For reasons of sterility, removal of bone and tendons should always take place in a hospital operating room.
Shelf life
Cornea remains in optimal condition for about 4 weeks after donation. Depending on the processing, bone and tendon tissue can be preserved for 3 to 5 years. After special treatment, the valves of the pulmonary artery, the great body artery and the blood vessels 5 years shelf life. Skin can stay good for 2 years.
Death at home
Someone who dies at home and also wants to be laid up at home can be a donor of skin, bone tissue, corneas and heart valves. When corneas are donated, the eyeballs are removed and replaced by prostheses. Then the eyes are closed.
Tissue Banks
The processing, storage and presentation of tissues takes place in tissue banks. The laboratories of these tissue banks carry out strict quality controls. There is a bone bank in Leiden, a heart valve bank in Rotterdam, a multi-tissue bank in Rotterdam and a cornea and skin bank in Beverwijk. Tendon tissue is stored in the bone bank and blood vessels in the heart valve bank.
All tissue banks are non-profit organizations. Therefore, no profit may be made on donated body material.
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