What is tissue donation?
Tissue transplantation improves the quality of life for hundreds of people every year. Tissue transplantation requires donor tissue. What exactly is tissue donation? And what are tissues used for? This page answers those questions.
What is tissue donation?
During tissue donation, a deceased person donates tissue. This can include eye tissue, skin, heart valves, bone, cartilage, and tendon tissue. This tissue ends up in a tissue bank. Doctors use these tissues to help patients. This is called tissue transplantation. As a result, their quality of life can improve.
Tissue transplantation improves the quality of life for patients. For example, a donor cornea allows someone to see better again. Donor skin can result in less pain, fewer infections, and fewer scars for people with severe burns.
Milou received a donor meniscus
After a few surgeries and a long rehabilitation, a donated meniscus turned out to be the solution for Milou's knee injury.
Read Milou's story
Which tissues can you donate?
Tissues that a deceased person can donate are: skin, eye tissue, bone tissue, cartilage, tendons, and heart valves. We explain per tissue how these donor tissues can help patients.
1. Eye tissue
We use two parts of the eye: the cornea and the sclera. The cornea can become cloudy due to a disease or condition. With a donated cornea, someone can see again. The sclera can be used to preserve a damaged eye. The sclera is the outer white layer of the eye.
2. Skin tissue
Donor skin is needed for people with burns and other skin injuries. Doctors use donor skin as a kind of bandage. Donor skin results in less pain, fewer infections, and fewer scars. Eventually, the donor skin falls off the healed wound by itself. With the transplantation of a thicker piece of donated skin from the back, it does grow onto the recipient.
3. Bone tissue
Doctors use bone from a donor to replace bone that has been damaged. This may be necessary, for example, in cases of cancer or hip surgery.
4. Cartilage
Doctors use donor cartilage to repair damaged joints. Think of knee tissue, for example. This can help patients move better and can reduce pain.
5. Tendons
Doctors use tendons to repair damaged joints. For example, in patients with rheumatism. Tendon tissue is also used to repair torn tendons, such as in knees or shoulders.
6. Heart valves
A heart valve can help patients live a normal life again. These patients are newborn babies with a congenital heart defect, adults with a malfunctioning heart valve, and patients with acute inflammation of the heart valve. They urgently need a new heart valve. It is also being investigated whether certain parts of the heart's large blood vessels (patches) can be used for transplantation. These patches are used to repair a patient's blood vessels.
Frequently asked questions about tissue donation
Can anyone donate tissue?
Tissue donation is possible more often than organ donation. This is because, for tissue donation, it does not matter whether someone passes away at home or in the hospital. However, there are requirements a donor must meet, for example in the areas of health and lifestyle. The exact rules vary per tissue.
Is age important in tissue donation?
Tissue donation is possible up to an advanced age. The age up to which you can donate tissues varies per tissue. More important than the age of the donor is how healthy the tissue is. Based on this, doctors decide whether the tissue is suitable for transplantation.