Tissue bank

A tissue bank is an establishment that collects and recovers human cadaver tissue for the purposes of medical research and education. A tissue bank may also refer to a location where biomedical tissue is stored under cryogenic conditions, and is generally used in a more clinical sense.

The United States Navy Tissue Bank is generally accepted as the first full tissue banking service of its kind in the world although it is not the largest or only tissue bank today.

Most medical schools need donated bodies for teaching students about the anatomy and physiology of the body, as well as how to perform medical procedures. There are no upper age limits for donating your body to science. Each school has different policies and procedures for donated bodies.

Act 368 of the Public Acts of Michigan 1978, Article 10, Part 101, authorizes an individual to will their body to a medical institution. Medical institutions will only accept a full body, meaning the body cannot be used for organ donation prior to body donation because it would leave the body incomplete. At the time of death, the institution where the body is being donated to should be contacted as soon as possible. The decision to accept or reject the donation will be made at that time. A body could be turned away if it has already begun decomposing, the person was extremely obese, recent surgery was conducted, thoughts of possible contagious disease or severe trauma to the body occurred. There is no an age restriction as long as the donor or the donor’s legal representative gives consent. It is very uncommon for a school to turn down a body due to having an adequate supply; they are always in high demand. At Michigan State University people can choose whether to donate their body for three years or without any restriction as to the length of time. A body donated for an indefinite period can be used for educational purposes as long as it remains an effective teaching tool. At the end of that time the body is cremated and the family's instructions for disposition are followed.

In Brazil, the Brazilian Legal Code allows teaching to be done on cadavers that are unclaimed from the Institutes of Forensic Medicine. This means that if a family does not claim a body, it gets put to use for teaching purposes. The number of cadavers available for teaching has declined in Brazil due to an increasing number of families choosing to claim their relative's body. Many Brazilians are unaware that a body can be voluntarily donated to a university after death, which also contributes to the shortage of cadavers for teaching. In 2008, a program officially started at The Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Algre making body donation official and also creating terms that the donor must agree to so that the program does not come under legal trouble. This provides the university background information about the donor as well, which may be beneficial to research or use of the body.

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