Requesting tissue

Netherlands

To request tissue, you can contact the Netherlands Transplantation Foundation (NTS).

The NTS is the only agency in the Netherlands that is licensed to allocate scarce cardiovascular tissue to patients who need it.

Therefore the NTS is responsible for allocating released heart valves and vessels uses a set of fixed criteria to allocate them to patients waiting for a heart valve transplant. These criteria include medical urgency, physical characteristics (diameter), age and regional distribution.

International

For patients outside the Netherlands, you can contact ETB-BISLIFE directly.
To request cardiovascular tissue, your patient needs to be registered on our waiting list.

Online requests
If you already have an account, you can register your patient at any time. You can access your customer details via your account whenever you need to. Your account allows you to:

  • Register patients online. The registration form will be automatically submitted to ETB-BISLIFE.
    A confirmation message with a copy (in PDF format) of the patient registration attached will be sent to your mail box.
  • Review your registered patients in a single overview.

Apply for an account

Account rules and guidelines 

Fax or email
You can also submit your request via fax or e-mail. In that case, please download the Heart valve recipient registration form, complete it and return it to us by fax or e-mail.

If you have any questions about our grafts and how to request them, you can contact us during office hours.

Delivery

Subject to consultation with you, cardiovascular tissue will be delivered on the date and at the address specified by you. To ensure that the order is delivered in time and in good condition, we mostly use our own door-to-door courier service. The tissue will be shipped one day before the surgery.

If the surgery is scheduled for a Monday, the tissue will be shipped on Friday, subject to consultation with the hospital.

TRANSPORT PACKAGE HOMOGRAFT

The shipping container comprises the following components:

  1. A human homograft, deep-frozen in ‘Medium 199’ with 10% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO); total volume ± 90 ml. The tissue is packed in two plastic HemoFreeze bags, one inside the other.

  2. Tissue Documentation Form: a description of the relevant cardiovascular tissue with a declaration to the effect that no evidence has been found of infectious diseases following serological tests of the donor serum and bacteriological and pathological investigations of the tissue.

  3. Homograft follow-up form (to be filled in by the surgeon).

  4. Guidelines on defrosting the homograft.

  5. Instructions for storage, defrosting, and using the homograft.

Price information

The rates for Dutch cardiovascular tissues are set in consultation with the Dutch Healthcare Authority. For necessary annual indexations, also see the healthcare rate indexations published annually by the Dutch Healthcare Authority.

In addition to the costs of the tissue, ETB-BISLIFE will charge shipment costs separately. Registration for the waiting list and the search for a suitable graft are free of charge.

You will receive our invoice after we have found a suitable graft and shipped it to you.

For more information about prices, you can contact ETB-BISLIFE.