Evaluation of allograft decontamination with two different antibiotic cocktails at the Treviso Tissue Bank Foundation

Abstract

Microbiological contamination of retrieved tissues is a critical aspect of allograft safety and tissue banks must continuously implement decontamination procedures to minimize tissue contamination. In this study we compared the decontamination efficacy of a new antibiotic cocktail (cocktail B: BASE medium with Gentamicin, Meropenem and Vancomycin) with the cocktail previously adopted at Treviso Tissue Bank Foundation (FBTV) (cocktail A: RPMI medium with Ceftazidime, Lincomycin, Polymyxin B and Vancomycin). Two decontamination steps were carried out, the first immediately after retrieval, the second after processing. The contamination rate was calculated before processing (Time 1) and cryopreservation (Time 2) for total tissues, musculoskeletal tissues and cardiovascular tissues, and the bacterial species involved were analyzed. Cocktail A was used to decontaminate 3548 tissues, of which 266 were cardiovascular and 3282 musculoskeletal tissues. For cocktail A, total tissue contamination was 18.6% at Time 1 and 0.9% at Time 2, with 15.7% contaminated musculoskeletal tissues at Time 1 and 0.4% at Time 2, respectively, while cardiovascular tissues were 50% contaminated at Time 1 and 6.4% at Time 2. Cocktail B was used to decontaminate 3634 tissues of which 318 were cardiovascular and 3316 musculoskeletal tissues. For cocktail B, total tissue contamination was 8.6% at Time 1 and 0.2% at Time 2, with 7.6% contaminated musculoskeletal tissues at Time 1 and 0.03% at Time 2, respectively. Contamination of cardiovascular tissues was 20.4% at Time 1 and 1.9% at Time 2. Intergroup and intragroup contamination rates decreased statistically significantly (p<0.05). Our results have shown that cocktail B was more effective than cocktail A in killing bacteria in both cardiovascular and musculoskeletal tissues during the two decontamination cycles.

Development and In Vitro/In Vivo Comparative Characterization of Cryopreserved and Decellularized Tracheal Grafts

“…Briefly, after the first overnight decontamination, the segments were again cleaned from mucus, valuated in their integrity, and further decontaminated with the same antibiotic cocktail composed of BASE medium (Alchimia S.r.l. ), gentamicin (Fisiopharma), vancomycin (Fisiopharma), and meropenem (Venus Pharma) at +2 °C/+4 °C for at least 48 h [ 40 , 41 ]. At the end of the second decontamination step, tissues were immersed and washed in sterile saline solution for at least 5 min (min).…”

Decellularized cryopreserved human pericardium: a validation study towards tissue bank practice

“…The retrieval was performed within 24 h of cardiac arrest or 12 h if the cadaver was not refrigerated during the first six hours after death. After retrieval, pericardia were transferred in BASE medium (Alchimia srl, Italy) containing gentamicin 200 µg/ml (Fisiopharma, Italy), vancomycin 100 µg/ml (Pharmatex, Italy) and meropenem 200 µg/ml (Fresenius Kabi AG, Germany), a solution validated for tissues decontamination (Serafini et al 2016 , Paolin et al 2018 , Montagner et al 2018 ). Tissues were subsequently transported to the tissue establishment at + 4 °C.…”

Impact of Sars-CoV-2 pandemic on the Veneto Region multitissue bank activity

“…After the retrieval, tissues were transferred in antibiotic solution made up with Gentamicin, Vancomycin and Meropenem and maintained at + 4 °C following the validated FBTV internal procedures (Serafini et al 2016 ; Montagner et al 2018 ; Paolin et al 2018 ).…”