Whether patients are considering an ACL repair, a spinal fusion, or a cardiovascular valve replacement, they are likely to have questions about allograft safety and efficacy. Considering a bone or tissue transplant? is a new Northwest Tissue Services brochure that answers many commonly asked questions—starting with the most basic.

It explains that allografts are human tissue transplants of bone, soft tissue, skin, heart valves, and vascular tissues.

It describes the range of conditions, including injuries, burns, degenerative problems, and diseases, treated by allografts. The brochure also confirms that human tissue transplants can improve healing and are highly successful.

In addition, the brochure addresses the issue of safety in detail. It contains a brief but complete outline of the steps the Tissue Services takes to protect patients who receive transplants, offering a summary of the comprehensive and detailed protocol established by the Tissue Services to provide safe, high-quality tissue transplants. It also mentions the importance of the Tissue Services’s membership in the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB), the scientific, nonprofit organization that sets standards, inspects and accredits tissue banks.

Patients’ own stories
The brochure features photos of recipients with their stories, which describe tissue transplants’ life-enhancing and sometimes life-saving benefits. Pictured on the cover, 11-year-old Cassandra Burris received a bone graft that offered an alternative to amputation after she was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in her right leg. Cassandra is just one of thousands of patients throughout the Northwest, northern Idaho, and Montana, who has been helped by a successful tissue transplant from the Tissue Services.

To order copies of Considering a Bone or Tissue Transplant? call the Tissue Services at 1-800-858-2282. An additional brochure, A Bone Transplant Gave Me Back My Life, is also available. It answers questions related to donating tissue, ranging from “How is tissue recovered?” to “Is a regular funeral possible?” It also includes a wallet-sized tear-out Uniform Donor Card on which an individual can designate the wish to donate.