How does tissue donation work?
Patients can be helped with tissues donated by someone after death. Think of a skin transplant after burns. Or a new cornea, allowing someone to see sharply again. But how does tissue donation actually work?
Tissue donation in 4 steps
Want to know how tissue donation works? Read the step-by-step plan below.
Step 1. Discussing the choice with family and conducting research
Everyone in the Netherlands aged 18 and older is registered in the Donor Register. The physician discusses with the family what choice the deceased registered there. The physician also explains what tissue donation means.
Before tissue donation can start, a lot of information is still needed to assess whether the deceased can donate tissues. To this end, the physician looks up medical information about the health of the deceased and sometimes also asks the relatives a few questions.
Then they call the NTS (Dutch Transplantation Foundation) to register the donor.
If someone is also an organ donor, tissue donation takes place after the organ donation.
Step 2. The donor surgery
A special team retrieves the tissues and draws blood for testing. The deceased must be cooled within six hours of death. Tissue donation always takes place in a funeral home or hospital. Retrieval of eye tissue, skin, and heart valves usually takes place in the mortuary of a funeral home or in a hospital. For bone, cartilage, and tendon tissue, retrieval always takes place in an operating room. Retrieval can start up to 24 hours after death.
The retrieval of tissues is done with great care and therefore takes time. As a result, it can take up to 30 hours after death before the body of the deceased is available to the relatives. Sometimes, in the event of an unnatural or unexpected death, an investigation into the cause is necessary. This is called an autopsy. Tissue donation always takes place before the autopsy. The physician will inform you about this.
The recovery team ensures that the donor looks neat after the surgery. After tissue recovery, the deceased is taken to the location chosen by the next of kin. For example, home or a funeral home. Lying in repose is always possible.
Step 3. Tissue is processed and stored
The donated tissues go to a tissue bank. This is an organization that examines the tissues and assesses their quality. After approval, the tissues are processed and stored here. The storage period for donated tissue varies from four weeks to five years.
Step 4. A patient receives donor tissue
As soon as a patient needs tissue, the doctor submits a request to the tissue bank for their patient. Sometimes there is more tissue in stock than is needed for Dutch patients. In that case, the tissue bank looks for a recipient abroad. This prevents tissue banks from having to discard tissue. The Netherlands also receives tissue from foreign tissue banks to help people in the Netherlands.
If you want to know the results of the donation, you can tell the doctor. After about one week, you will then receive a letter from the NTS stating which tissues were donated and a brochure with information about the use of donated tissue. You will not be told who received the tissues. That remains anonymous. This is laid down by law.
Frequently asked questions about tissue donation
How long does tissue donation take?
The recovery of the tissues is done with great care and therefore takes time. As a result, it can take up to 30 hours after death before the body of the deceased is available to the surviving relatives. Sometimes the donation also takes longer because a room for the recovery is not immediately available or because the recovery team is working elsewhere. It may then take a while before the procedure can begin.
Is all donated tissue suitable?
No, not all tissues can be used for a transplant. Sometimes it turns out after recovery that the tissue is not suitable for transplantation. It can then be used for research. However, this is only permitted if the deceased gave permission for this in the Donor Register or if the next of kin give permission. If there is no permission, the unsuitable tissue is destroyed. The recovery team never retrieves tissue solely to conduct research.
Does the donor look neat after the surgery?
The recovery team always ensures that the donor looks neat after the recovery of the tissues. Tissue donation can have consequences for the care of the deceased. It is also possible that bandages or plasters may be visible with certain clothing choices. You can read more about this on this page.
Does my family have to pay anything if I donate tissues?
Surviving relatives do not pay any extra costs for tissue donation. The family may receive a bill for normal costs surrounding the death of a loved one who is a donor. This concerns the amount that the family would also have had to pay if the deceased had not donated tissues.