Objective: The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the first eight years of activities of the Human Heart Valve Bank of Hospital de Caridade da Irmandade da Santa Casa de Curitiba (BVCHSC), analyzing aspects related to procurement, processing, storage and distribution of homologous cardiovascular grafts.Method: Initial donor screening was achieved according the national guidelines for human organ procurement, besides specific BVCHSC criteria. Hearts were obtained from multiple organ donors, non-beating heart donors and heart transplant recipients, with total ischemic times under 48 hours. Donor ages varied from neonates up to 60 years for aortic valves and 65 years for pulmonary valves. The dissected grafts had their dimensions measured and their morphology evaluated, using a classification system with category 0 (discarded), 1 (minimal morphological alterations) and 2 (perfect). The incidence and microorganisms responsible for organ contamination were determined, as was the efficiency of the decontamination solution. Aspects related to graft distribution were also analysed. Results: From September 1996 to February 2005, 1059hearts from 19 Brazilian states were received at BVCHSC. From these, 977 (92.3%) were from brain-death donors. A total of 2105 grafts were processed and of the aortic and pulmonary grafts that were analysed, 783 were in category 2, 697 in category 1 and 186 were discarded due to morphological abnormalities. In total, 433 received grafts were contaminated and the sterilization solution was efficient in 330 cases. 571 (27.1%) grafts were rejected during some phase of the processing, mainly due to contamination and morphological abnormalities. A total of 1338 grafts were distributed to 74 health institutions and were more commonly used for aortic valve replacement (529), correction of congenital heart diseases (478) and during the Ross procedure (272).Conclusions: The activities of the BVCHSC during the initial eight years were satisfactory, fulfilling the proposed goals.Descriptors: Tissue banks. Transplantation, homologous. Cryopreservation. Tissue preservation. 399COSTA Cardiovasc Surg 2005; 20(4) , MTBA ET AL -Analysis of the inicial eight years of activities of the Human Heart Valve Bank of the Hospital de Caridade da Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Curitiba Braz J

Tissue-specific resident cells have been identified as a promising population of progenitor cells for cell-based therapies. We describe here the isolation from adult human hearts of tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase-positive cells (ALPL+ cells) with mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) characteristics. Samples from 24 adult cadaveric donors were obtained from a valve bank. Mean total ischemia time was 21.5 ± 9.1 hours. The success rate for the isolation of human heart-derived cells by the explant culture technique was 70% for the right auricle (14 of 20 trials) and 33% for the right ventricle (7 of 21 trials). The total auricle-derived cell population (TAD) was used for the purification of ALPL+ cells. TAD and ALPL+ cells expressed markers for MSC and pericytes. TAD cells and ALPL+ cells differentiated into adipocytes, osteoblasts and chondroblasts, and ALPL+ cells expressed markers of these three lineages more strongly than TAD cells, as shown by RT-PCR. This population therefore has a greater potential for differentiation into mesechymal lineages than TAD cells. Both cell populations express some markers of cardiac progenitors, such as GATA4, CD117 and VEGF. ALPL+ cells expressed troponin T and ABCG2, which are also markers of the cardiac lineage. Heart samples from tissue banks could be considered as sources of MSC with putative commitment towards cardiac lineages, even after prolonged ischemia times

IntroductionHuman heart valves are used as replacement valves and have satisfactory functional results compared with conventional prostheses.ObjectiveCharacterize the profile of effective heart donors from the human valve bank of the santa casa de misericórdia de curitiba and analyze the association between the profile variables.MethodsIt consists of a retrospective and quantitative study of electronic medical records from heart donors for heart valves. every heart donation made to the bank between january 2004 and december 2014 was studied.Results2,149 donations were analyzed, from donors aged 0 to 71 years old, with an average of 34.9 ± 15.03 years old. most donors were male 65.7% (n=1,411) and 34.3% (n=738) were female. among the most frequent causes of the donors' death are trauma at 53% (n=1,139) and cerebral vascular accident at 34.2% (n=735). there was significant statistical association between the analyzed variables.ConclusionThere has been an improvement in brazil's donation rate, being essential that the tissue banks work together with the state and federal district centers for notification, procurement and distribution of organs in order to increase the number of donors.