Resistance to infection of long-term cryopreserved human aortic valve allografts

Abstract

CHAs possess antibacterial activity despite long-term storage over 5 years. Antibiotic combinations applied during CHA processing have a significant influence on their infection resistance. Ascending aortic tissue shows a significantly enhanced bacterial resistance against staphylococcal bacteria compared with aortic valves.

Evaluation of allograft contamination and decontamination at the Treviso Tissue Bank Foundation: A retrospective study of 11,129 tissues

“…As contaminated tissues may represent a potential risk for recipients [1,2] every tissue bank adopts specific decontamination procedures. Grafts are sterilized by means of antibiotic (AB) cocktails [3–5], and terminal irradiation although the latter may lead to mechanical functional losses and alter the biological properties of the tissues [6,7]. However, bacterial contamination remains one of the major causes for discarding tissues, with spectra and rates varying widely in relation to the type of donor and tissue.…”

Repair of Thoracic and Thoracoabdominal Mycotic Aneurysms and Infected Aortic Grafts Using Allograft

“…CPA may also confer infection-resistance [8,14,36]. No patients in our series developed reinfection or deterioration of the CPA greater than 9 months after the index operation.…”

“…While prosthetic graft has a substantial risk for reinfection when placed in an infected field, CPA has demonstrated resistance to infection and has proven results treating prosthetic and native aortic valve endocarditis [8,[12][13][14][15][16]. Operative results using CPA for native and prosthetic arterial infection still have significant morbidity and mortality in abdominal aortic and peripheral arterial applications, however CPA repair has durable and reinfection-free mid-term outcomes [17][18][19][20][21].…”

Structural changes arising from different thawing protocols on cryopreserved human allograft’s aortic valve leaflets

“…They also demonstrated that cryopreservation of the transplants of the heart valves at -80°C prevents ice formation, and tissue cracking, and preserves extracellular matrix. 8,17 Improvements in modern antibiotic treatment of AV allografts before cryopreservation have had a significant impact on the infection resistance of AV allografts, as shown in their enhanced bacterial resistance. 18 The use of cryopreserved allografts has become a gold standard in surgical procedures, such as Ross procedure, or in cases of bacterial endocarditis.…”