Artur Kaminski

Sterilisation by Irradiation

Sterilisation refers to any process that eliminates/inactivates transmissible infectious agents (pathogens) containing nucleic acids e.g. vegetative and spore forms of bacteria and fungi, parasites, viruses etc. There are two main types of sterilisation distinguishing by the characteristics of sterilisation agent used, namely physical and chemical sterilisation [3, 19].

Knowledge and opinions about tissue donation and transplantation among Polish students and physicians

The idea of transplantation seems to be commonly identified by lay and professional people only with transplantation of vascularized organs like kidney or heart. The question arises whether there is any awareness of tissue transplantation among the public. A survey was therefore undertaken to assess awareness of and approaches to tissue donation and transplantation among selected social groups. A questionnaire on donation and transplantation issues was administered to respondents from the following groups: secondary school students, non-medical university students, medical university students, physicians. On the whole, 441 non-randomly sampled respondents were surveyed. The awareness of tissue transplantation is narrower than the awareness of organ transplantation. The support for tissue transplantation is weaker than for organ transplantation. This study shows that there is an acute need for education in the legal aspects of transplantation and that ways of motivating healthcare professionals to promote transplantation should be developed.

Global maxillary ridge augmentation with frozen radiation-sterilised bone blocks followed by implant placement: a case report

AbstractDue to atrophy of the tissue within the alveolar ridge, implantation must sometimes be preceded by bone regeneration. The use of allogeneic material allows the surgeon to prepare grafts of any shape and amount; therefore it is a good alternative to autograft reconstruction in patients with extensive atrophy of the alveolar ridge. The patient with maxillary anodontia showed insufficient width of the ridge along its entire length, which prevented implantation. Therefore, alveolar ridge reconstruction was planned. Four frozen, radiation-sterilised bone blocks processed in the Tissue Bank in Warsaw were used for reconstruction of the alveolar ridge. The blocks were grafted to the area of molars, premolars and lateral incisors bilaterally. Three months after surgery a normal union of transplants with the recipient site was achieved. Six implants were embedded and following the 6-month integration period a permanent prosthetic restoration was successfully performed. During a 38-month follow-up none of the implants were lost and the aesthetic or functional condition of the prosthetic restoration did not deteriorate. Frozen allogeneic radiation-sterilised bone blocks constitute good, efficient and safe material used in reconstruction of the alveolar ridge in extensive bone atrophy. This is only one of possible grafting materials for reconstruction of extremely atrophic alveolar ridge.

Tissue banking training courses: Polish experience.

Personnel directly involved in the donation, procurement, testing, processing, preservation, storage and distribution of human tissues and cells should be appropriately qualified and provided with timely and relevant training according to EU directives. In the time of new tissue and cells regulations implementation such a training system existed in Poland only at a local level. The first training programme outlines for various groups of health professionals engaged in tissue banking practice was created in co-operation with the Institute for LifeLong Learning at University of Barcelona in 2006. This initial training courses were financially supported by EU Transition Facility Programme 2004. Then, starting from 2006, based on previous experience, system of advanced training courses was created. This training programme was financially supported by the National Programme for the Development of Transplantation Medicine 2006–2009—POLGRAFT financed by Polish Ministry of Health. During 2006 and 2007 first set of tissue banking initial training courses were provided according to TF 2004 project. Over 200 pathologists, forensic medicine specialists and other medical doctors responsible for donor screening and classification, medical directors of tissue establishments, technical staff; tissue graft users: orthopaedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, cardiosurgeons and ophthalmologists were trained. Between 2006 and 2009 there were organized 8 advanced tissue banking training courses according to POLGRAFT programme. There were organized both theoretical and practical courses on various aspects of tissue for over 350 persons. We present our experience in organisation of international and national tissue banking training courses.

Limitations of Bone Harvesting from Organ Donors in Poland

The demand for organ transplantations greatly exceeds the number of organ donors (OD) and it is likely that this discrepancy will continue. There is a continuously growing demand for biostatic allogenic bone transplantation mostly for orthopedic reconstructions. The bone material is predominantly harvested during postmortem examinations in forensic medicine departments. The collected amounts are not enough so the material need to be acquired from other sources. Bone collecting from OD seems to be the optimal solution. Between January 2000 and December 2005, 1,883 out of 2,601 organ donors fulfilled the criteria for bone donation, but only 42 bone harvesting (BH) were performed being only 2.22% of all suitable cases. The main reasons for so few bone procurements were: lack of acceptance of bone procurement by relevant part of donors’ families, insufficient cooperation between tissue banks and transplantation teams, lack of equipment for BH, and no experience in bone procurement.

Autologous Osteoblast Transplantation, an Innovative Method of Bone Defect Treatment: Role of a Tissue and Cell Bank in the Process

BACKGROUND The idea of cell treatment of various diseases and medical conditions has become very popular. Some procedures are well established, as is autologous chondrocyte implantation, whereas others are still in the process of early development, laboratory experiments, and some clinical trials. METHODS This report is devoted to an example of an emerging cell treatment: bone augmentation with the use of autologous cells and its legal and technical background. Various requirements set by law must be met by tissue banks performing cell seeding of grafts. In Europe, the requirements are described in directives 2004/23/EC, 2006/17/EC, 2006/86/EC, and in the regulation 2007/1394/EC. RESULTS Revitalization of biostatic allografts gives new, promising tools for creation of functional parts of organs; brings the methodology used in tissue banks closer to tissue engineering; places the enterprise in the mainstream of advanced biotechnology; allows the full potential of tissue allografts; and opens a new, large area for clinical and laboratory research. Cell and tissue processing also have a financial impact on the treatment: it produces additional expenditures. CONCLUSIONS Clinical effectiveness will be the most decisive factor of whether this innovative treatment will be applied in a particular type of medical condition. From a tissue establishment perspective, the most important issue is to develop a procedure that ensures safety for the patient in graft quality terms.

Preparation of allogeneic bone for alveolar ridge augmentation

Implant treatment is safe and predictable with sufficient amount and quality of bone tissue. In case of severely reduced bone tissue after a tooth was lost, augmentation of such tissue is necessary before implant embedment. Retrospective evaluation covered 380 alveolar ridge reconstructions. The study material consisted of human grafts prepared by the Department of Transplantology and Central Tissue Bank, Medical University of Warsaw. Presentation of laboratory procedures in the context of physical parameters of frozen, radiation sterilised, allogeneic corticocancellous material was presented. The preparation process makes it possible to obtain two types of bone material: granules and blocks. Women underwent 164 procedures with the use of bone granules and 61 augmentations with bone blocks. In case of men 122 packages of granules were used as well as 33 bone blocks. Based on the results an evaluation of usability of available allogeneic grafts was performed with reference to planned alveolar ridge augmentation procedures, which they were used for. 1.The opportunity to prepare allogeneic material of different textures allowed selection to meet augmentation requirements while providing biological safety.2.Allogeneic granules should be used in multi-wall defects, such as a double, closed sinus lift and post-extraction socket augmentation.3.Owing to their superior mechanical parameters, bone blocks were successfully used in extending the width and height of the alveolar ridge and in open sinus lifts with one-wall or two-wall defects and adequate location of the lamellar bone in a graft prevented substantial graft resorption.

Three-layered osteodural plasty for severe anterior skull base and facial injuries. Report of eleven cases

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The upper cranial trauma of high force and wide area of application leads to fractures of calvaria, the skull base, and the viscerocranium. The aim of the study was to present eleven patients treated for severe anterior skull base and facial defects by means of three-layered osteodural plasty. MATERIALS AND METHODS The operative tactics consisted of bicoronal incision, bifrontal craniotomy, closure of the dura mater damage with a pericranium, reconstruction of bone defects with autologous bone grafts and plasty with anteriorly pedicled pericranial flap on the supratrochlear and supraorbital vessels. RESULTS During follow-up, which lasted 2-7 years, none of the patients developed any early or late postoperative complications. CONCLUSIONS The three-layer osteodural plasty of severe anterior skull base injuries with the use of autologous bone grafts for the reconstruction of craniofacial skeleton resulted in a good final functional, morphological and aesthetic outcome in all patients.

Professor Kazimierz L. Ostrowski in memoriam

Professor Kazimierz Ostrowski passed away on January 9th, 2010. We will remember him as a distinguished scientist, great educator, mentor of several generations of scientists and physicians, and a good friend. One of the fields of his scientific activities was bone physiology, preservation and storage of bone grafts. He created a net of tissue banks in Poland. He was the initiator of radiation sterilization of biostatic grafts and the organizer of several international meetings on tissue banking. The EATB granted him Honorary Membership in 1999. Kazimierz L. Ostrowski (1921–2010) Professor Ostrowski was born on October 24th 1921 in Lvov, where he received initial education and began medical studies in 1939. Continuation of medical studies in Lvov was, however, not possible in the difficult times of the II World War. So he arrived in Warsaw and till the end of war he worked as a teacher. In 1945–1950 he completed his medical education in the Medical Faculty of the University in Warsaw. Already as a student he was engaged by prof. J. Zweibaum to work in the Department of Histology and Embryology as a teacher and researcher. In 1951 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine on the base of his paper ‘‘Influence of Large Doses of Vitamin A on Mitochondria in Mice Gut’’. In 1955 he was granted the degree of ‘‘Docent in Histology’’. In 1965 he was nominated Professor of medical sciences. In 1958 Professor Ostrowski was elected to the post of Head of the Department of Histology and Embryology. This nomination opened a very active and fruitful period in his life. He introduced new directions of research based on quantitative histochemistry and morphometric analysis of histological samples, induction of heterotopic osteogenesis, detection of enzymes by use of the isotopic labeled inhibitors and other methods. Links of cooperation with a scientific units from other countries were established, e.g. with Karolinska Institute, State University at Buffalo, Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, Fibiger Institute in Kopenhagen, Laboratory of Experimental Histology in Leiden, Department of Histology in Liverpool, J. Komender A. Kamiński (&) Department of Transplantology and Central Tissue Bank, Medical University of Warsaw, 02-004 Warsaw, Poland e-mail: akamin@ib.amwaw.edu.pl

Anna Dziedzic-Gocławska (1939–2006)

Gocławska, MD PhD. In 2001–2006 she was the Head of the Department Transplantology and Central Tissue Bank of Medical University of Warsaw. She was born on July 2, 1939 in Kielce. In 1957–1963 she studied at the Medical Faculty of Medical University of Lodz, achieving her degree in medicine. In 1963–1966 she worked for a year as a volunteer in the Surgery Department of the Hematological Institute, and afterwards she finished her clinical training at Szpital Bielanski in Warsaw. In 1966 she started her doctoral studies at the Department of Histology and Embryology of the Medical University in Warsaw, under the supervision of Prof. Kazimierz Ostrowski MD PhD. In 1971 she defended her doctoral thesis, obtaining the PhD title in medicine. The same year she was employed at Transplantology Department of Medical University of Warsaw, which was led by Prof. Janusz Komender, MD PhD. In 1984 she was awarded the title of habilitated doctor at the 1st Medical Faculty, and in 1992 she was given the tile of ordinary professor of medical sciences. In 1993 she was selected for the position of extraordinary professor of Medical University of Warsaw, and after 5 years, in 1998, for the position of ordinary professor of Medical University of Warsaw. In 2001, after Prof. Janusz Komender retired, she was selected for the position of the Head of the Department Transplantology and Central Tissue Bank of Medical University of Warsaw. Under her supervision the department achieved status of Center of Excellence in 2004. In 2004 she was appointed the Director of a new institution created by the Minister of Health: National Center for Tissue and Cell Banking, whose main purpose is supervision of tissue banking in Poland. Her scientific interest was mainly connected with conservation of biostatic tissue grafts and radiation sterilization. With a team from the tissue bank and in cooperation with radiation A. Kaminski (&) National Centre of Tissue and Cell Banking, Department of Transplantology & Central Tissue Bank Centre of Biostructure Research, The Medical University of Warsaw, Chalubinskiego 5, Warsaw 02-004, Poland e-mail: akamin@ib.amwaw.edu.pl Cell Tissue Banking (2007) 8:77–79 DOI 10.1007/s10561-006-9026-8