Residual tissue donation and VitalTissue

Often, not all tissue that is removed in surgery is needed for diagnostics and/or follow-up research. This residual tissue is usually destroyed. That is a pity, because fresh unprocessed human residual tissue or vital human residual tissue offers great opportunities for scientific research. Donated residual tissue can be used to investigate disease processes more accurately, to improve and accelerate drug development and therapies, and reduce the dependence on animal testing.

VitalTissue is an organisation that makes donated residual tissue accessible to researchers in The Netherlands for scientific research. An employee of the hospital inquires whether the patient is willing to donate the residual tissue. Participation is entirely voluntary. The residual tissue donor receives no compensation for this. Residual tissue donation has no adverse effects on the patient's health and does not affect the medical procedure either.

What do I have to do if I want to be a residual tissue donor?

VitalTissue is only allowed to receive and hand over vital residual tissue to research institutes once the patient has consented to the attending physician or nurse. This is confirmed after completing the form “Patient declaration residual tissue donation”. It states that the patient gives consent for the use of his/her residual tissue for scientific research and allows VitalTissue to transfer this tissue from the hospital to a research institution. The criteria for the use of residual tissue in scientific research are described in research activities. In addition the patient gives consent for the hospital to pass on the age category and gender to VitalTissue and the Dutch research institution. This information is needed for the interpretation and understanding of the data obtained from the research with the residual tissue. Name, address and other private information of the patient will always remain a secret for VitalTissue and the research laboratory.

The patient can always withdraw the consent for the use of the residual tissue by reporting this to the attending physician or nurse. In this case the residual tissue will be destroyed after surgery. The withdrawal of consent does not affect the treatment are health of the patient. In addition the information on the residual tissue and the consent for residual tissue donation will be deleted.

What will happen to my residual tissue after donation?

After surgery the surgeon will hand over the residual tissue to VitalTissue. VitalTissue will ensure that the residual tissue will be delivered safely and quickly to the research institute. It is generally utilized there for scientific research on the exact same day. Residual tissues will not be used in diagnostic research. Therefore “nevenbevindingen” or “incidental findings”, these are findings that are relevant for the health of the patient and his/her children, are not expected to occur. After the experimental procedures are performed the remaining residual tissue that is not needed for scientific research will be destroyed.

In our criteria we comprehensively describe that the residual tissue may be used in scientific research for the development of medicines, the toxicity and effectivity of nutrients and compounds, disease processes, but also for the understanding of the functioning of the human body and education. Frequently the pieces of residual tissue are small and therefore it is needed to isolate cells or biological compounds that are used in scientific research. It may be needed to isolate dividing cells that are studied in a cell culture dish and/or stored for a prolonged time to ensure the cells can be used in follow-up research.

With the criteria for the use of residual human tissue in research laboratories we ensure that residual tissues will be used in socially responsible scientific research. 

VitalTissue and ETB-BISLIFE

VitalTissue is a department of the tissue establishment ETB-BISLIFE, which is a foundation that receives, stores, processes and distributes donor tissues to hospitals that are used for the treatment of patients. The expertise of ETB-BISLIFE in the receiving, storage, processing and distribution of donor tissues will now be applied in the availability of human vital residual tissues for scientific research. ETB-BISLIFE is a not-for-profit organization.

Scientific researchers are very pleased and grateful if you are willing to donate your residual vital tissue for scientific research after carefully reading of this information and the additional information on our website. Your donated residual tissue will contribute to scientific research to better understand disease processes, accelerate drug development and treatment options for patients and reduce animal testing.

Additional information can be found in the frequently asked questions at the bottom of page.

We greatly appreciate your interest!

Interested?

VitalTissue
[email protected]
Jan van Krimpenweg 17
2031 CG Haarlem