Tissue Recall

Tissue Recall: "Tissue recalls are usually due to suspicion that the tissue has not been through proper screening methods, including physical examination, comprehensive medical history and social risk review of the donor. Criteria established by the U.S. Public Health Service should be used as a means of lowering the risk of a tissue recall. This criteria identifies donors with high-risk behavior and excludes them from the transplant list.

The American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) and the FDA require all donated tissue be analyzed for infectious diseases including HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis. Doing so, they maintain, will lower the risk of tissue recalls.

In addition, all data on the tissue is evaluated by a team of infectious disease and tissue banking specialists to further limit any hint of a tissue recall. Tissue is not released from the tissue bank until the medical director determines its safety. These safeguards are credited with decreasing the number of tissue recalls."