How Are Donated Tissues Used?

Donated tissues are primarily used for tissue grafts and tissue transplants, which are becoming far more common both in the U.S. and internationally. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 million tissue grafts are performed each year in the U.S. alone. These represent about half of all tissue released. The remainder of the tissue may be stored for use at a later time or, if quality has deteriorated, destroyed. 

Corneal transplants are among the most common tissue transplants, with approximately 80,000 transplants performed each year. The sclera (the white protective layer of the eye) can also be preserved and used to repair another person’s damaged sclera, nasal septum, ear drum or gums. Corneal transplants are successful about 95% of the time, and are one of the few transplants that require no tissue or blood-type match because the cornea has no blood supply.

Another common use for donated tissue are bone grafts. These are often used in hip or knee replacement surgeries, dental implants and to augment metal hardware used to repair badly broken bones. Some other common tissue transplants include:

• Skin grafts to aid the healing of burn victims and people who have had disfiguring injuries
• Tendon grafts to replace damaged tendons such as a torn anterior cruciate ligament or ACL
• Veins used in heart transplant surgeries and procedures to reroute or re-establish blood flow to damaged organs like the heart and lungs
• Heart valve replacement

Additionally, doctors are now performing vascularized allograft transplants (VCA), which is the transplantation of a composite of tissue such as skin, muscle, bone, nerves, arteries and veins. These transplants are most often performed when a person suffers a devastating, disfiguring injury in an accident such as a car crash or fire. The process can involve the transplantation of limbs, the face or one or both hands. The donor and recipient must be carefully matched for tissue and blood type, and the recipient must be on a strict regimen of immunosuppressive drugs for life. Still, the results can be life-changing. One dramatic example: In 2020, 22-year-old Joe DiMeo, underwent a face and double hand transplant at Langone NYU hospital after a devastating car wreck left him with burns over 80% of his body two years before. The transplants came from a single donor, and were the first of their kind to succeed. Today, Joe has facial features like eyelids, a nose and lips and is regaining function in his transplanted hands.

Sources

“World’s first face and hands transplant gives New Jersey man a second chance at life”. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/03/us/face-and-double-hand-transplant/index.html