Saphenous veins are processed in the Tissue Services clean rooms.

As a surgical technologist, Keni Sue Humbert has assisted in dozens of open-heart procedures involving saphenous vein transplantation. When consulted during transplantation of the first saphenous vein provided by the Northwest Tissue Services, she had a unique perspective on what was at stake.

In response to requests from regional cardiovascular surgeons, the Northwest Tissue Services began procuring and processing saphenous veins in July 1999. Saphenous veins will round out the Tissue Services' cardiovascular program, which has been processing heart valves since 1990. Shortly after joining the Tissue Services, Humbert spent time learning procurement techniques at LifeNet in Virginia Beach, a program accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks since 1986.

Primarily used for coronary artery bypass and limb salvage, the saphenous veins are retrieved through the same incisions made to provide access to other tissues, such as fascia and patellar tendons. In the Tissue Center's Class 100 clean rooms, the full length veins are processed into various lengths, enabling surgeons to select lengths that will best meet their patients' needs. Veins are packaged in a cryopreservation solution that doesn't utilize bovine serum, to spare the patient exposure to unnecessary antigens which may result in graft rejection.

Even as the Tissue Services builds its inventory of saphenous veins, staff foresee a growing need for this tissue.

"People are having heart surgery younger and younger, so by the time they are 60 and on their third re-op there may be no options for an autograft vein," said Humbert. "The allograft saphenous veins will provide an option for these procedures."