Introduction:

A study is performed to determine if the current technical and productive situation of the four cardiovascular tissue banks that have Good Practice Certificates in Colombia compare with international standards.

Objective:

To determine the technical capacity and activity of the banks certified by the country for cardiovascular tissue during the period from 2014 to 2016.

Methodology:

The items analysed using a questionnaire completed by teleconference to each bank were, donation, extraction, processing, storage, distribution, and production capacity of the cardiovascular tissues. The information provided by the institutions was complemented with the Minutes of Good Practice Certification of the Colombia National Food and Drug Surveillance Institute (INVIMA) as well as the statistics reported by the banks themselves and provided by the National Health Institute (INS) during the period 2014 to 2016.

Results:

The cardiovascular tissue processed by Colombian tissue banks mainly comes from donors with brain death, and is extracted directly in the operating theatre. The age of the donors go from newborn up to 60 years-old. When used, the antibiotic of choice is vancomycin. The most used storage method is cryopreservation, and is mainly distributed to established and institutional surgical groups.

Conclusions:

The development of this type of tissue bank is lagging behind in Colombia compared to other countries. This is due to the difficulties in donation, extraction, and use by groups with high expertise. Furthermore, the guidelines used to evaluate these institutions are very out of date.

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