Femoral heads living donor

Due to a shortage of human bone tissue, ETB-BISLIFE works together with hospital orthopaedic departments to obtain donated femoral heads. The aim of this is to make available the retrieved femoral heads of patients who have undergone hip replacement surgery for transplantation purposes.

ETB-BISLIFE coordinates this donation procedure and supports hospitals in training hospital workers, providing donation supplies, and taking care of logistics.

Hip-replacement surgery

Patients undergoing hip-replacement surgery in a hospital are asked during the outpatient preparation for the surgery whether they would like to donate their retrieved femoral head to the Tissue Bank. If the patient agrees to this, they fill in a questionnaire.

These questions seek to ensure the safety of the donated tissue for recipients. On the basis of their knowledge of the patient’s health, the treating hospital orthopaedist or orthopaedic consultant assesses their provisional suitability as a donor. If the donor is found suitable, the femoral head retrieved during the surgery is stored for donation and packed appropriately.

During the surgery, blood is also taken, on which a number of tests are performed for the presence of markers of infectious diseases that could be transmitted via the bone tissue. A culture specimen is taken from the donated femoral head. The donated tissue, filled-in questionnaire, and test samples are usually collected from the hospital on the same day by ETB-BISLIFE.

Donor assessment

As soon as the donated femoral head has been received, the bacteriological culture specimen and blood samples are sent to special laboratories for investigation. Based on the questionnaire responses ETB-BISLIFE's medical staff also assess whether the bone tissue donated is suitable for storage by the Tissue Bank. If the questionnaire responses and test sample investigations do not suggest that the bone tissue contains infectious diseases or other contaminants, ETB-BISLIFE releases the stored femoral head for distribution and transplantation in other patients.

Why donate your femoral head?

Has your orthopaedist asked you whether you would like to donate the femoral head to be retrieved from you to ETB-BISLIFE?

If so, read the following information about the donation of your femoral head.

You may only donate your femoral head if an artificial hip (prosthesis) is due to be implanted in you. The femoral head that will be retrieved from you has damaged cartilage on the outer edge of the bone. That causes you pain when you are moving. The bone tissue itself is often still suitable for treating bone defects in other patients.

Information leaflet about femoral head donation

You will receive an information leaflet about femoral head donation from the hospital. If you agree to donate your femoral head, you will be asked to fill in and sign a questionnaire (to provide information about your prior medical history). You will submit this filled-in questionnaire to the orthopaedic department of your hospital. Prior to surgery, blood samples will be taken from you to carry out safety tests.

After the donation, when the femoral head retrieved from you has been received by the Tissue Bank, you may be called by a staff member of ETB-BISLIFE with further questions about your responses to the questionnaire you have previously filled in.

What happens to your femoral head?

Straight after the femoral head is retrieved from you by the orthopaedist, it is packed by an operating theatre staff member in a double sterile bone container. That protects the tissue from the possibility of later contamination.
A unique identification number is placed on the container. The donated bone tissue is then stored in a freezer. ETB-BISLIFE can thus store the donated tissue for up to five years after donation. If your donated bone is later used in another patient, the bone tissue in question is only identified with that unique number. Your name will not be disclosed to the treating doctor, nor to the patient into whom the bone tissue is transplanted.

We keep records in which your data are linked to that unique number. If this should ever be necessary, only ETB-BISLIFE can trace the donated bone tissue used in a patient to the donor in whom that bone tissue has originated.

ETB-BISLIFE does not store donated femoral head tissue that is exclusively intended for the treatment of the donor at a later time (autologous use).

Donated femoral heads are then used in orthopaedic procedures, such as:

  • repairing bone defects in relation to a prosthesis
  • repairing a cavity (cyst) in a patient’s bone tissue

The transplanted bone tissue functions as a filler of which the original biological characteristics have been preserved as far as possible. This ensures that the donated tissue is gradually integrated into the patient’s own bone tissue. After a few months have passed, the transplanted bone tissue will be completely incorporated into the patient’s own bone tissue.

In their treatment, the orthopaedist makes no distinction between patients who are donating bone and those who are not.