Significant variation in heart valve banking practice.
Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis
; 38(8): 1491-1498, 2019 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31081536
ABSTRACT
The European Blood Alliance (EBA) Tissue and Cells annual benchmarking exercise identified that in 2014, the heart valve (HV) discard rate in tissue establishments (TEs) run by EBA members was between 19 and 65%. Given this significant discard rate, a decision was taken to carry out a worldwide data-gathering exercise to assess the processing methodology in different TEs. In collaboration with the Foundation of European Tissue Banks, a questionnaire asking for the details on HV processing was sent to TEs worldwide. Nineteen questionnaires were received back from 15 European TEs and 4 non-European TEs. The data provided confirmed a significant discard rate of HVs with 43-50% of aortic valves and 20-32% of pulmonary valves being discarded in 2015. The causes of HV discard varied, with microbiology contamination, anatomical and medical reasons being the main causes. This data-gathering exercise highlighted significant variations in practice in different TEs including how donor suitability is assessed, critical timings for heart retrieval and processing, heart rinsing, HV decontamination protocols and methods of microbiological testing. To reduce the discard rates, there are several aspects of HV banking that could be validated and standardised. Here, we report the findings of this data-gathering exercise. We consider this a first step that will help lead to standardising HV banking.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Tissue Banks
/
Decontamination
/
Heart Valves
Type of study:
Guideline
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis
Journal subject:
DOENCAS TRANSMISSIVEIS
/
MICROBIOLOGIA
Year:
2019
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United kingdom