Tissue banking in Mexico R. Galvan * , R. Brisen˜o, E. Alvarez and C. de la Garza Banco de Hueso y Tejidos, Servicio de Traumatologı´a y Ortopedia del Hospital Universitario de la UANL, Avenida Madero y Gonzalitos sin nu ´mero, colonia Mitras Centro, Monterrey, Nuevo Leo ´n, co ´digo postal 64460, Me´xico; *Author for correspondence (e-mails: drgalvan@bancodehueso.org, rgalvanmartinez@ hotmail.com; phone: +52-81-83462071; fax: +52-81-83462072) Received 24 March 2005; accepted in revised form 20 September 2005 Key words: Allografts, Retrievals, Tissue banking Abstract Introduction: Here, we describe our Tissue Banking experiences of 4 years of activity in Mexico. Methods: Data of allografts provided by our Bank and bone retrievals performed by our teams between February of 2001 and August of 2004 were included. Results: There were 100 bone donors, a total of 1107 tissues were obtained with an average of 11 tissues by retrieval, samples from all tissues were obtained during retrieval and cultured for bacterial contamination, 250 tissues were positives to bacterial growth with an average of 22.58% of bacterial contamination of tissue by retrieval. A total of 4493 allografts were provided and were utilized in 3643 patients. The allografts were used mainly by orthopedic surgeons (62%) and dentists (30%). The most used allografts were morcellized cancellous bone 31%, pulverized 25% and chips of cancellous bone 20%. Among orthopedic patients the most frequent procedures were related with spine degenerative diseases 39.09%, followed by non-pathological fractures and its complications 28.67% and bone tumors and cystic bone lesions 11.59%. Conclusions: Sustained increase of allograft utilization in Mexico reflects a great necessity for them in our country. The increase in public awareness about tissue donation has allowed an increase in tissue donations and retrievals. Introduction The first bone xenograft utilization report was made by Dutch surgeon Job Janszoon Van Me- ekeren (1611–1666), who included it in his book published in 1668. This case corresponds to a posttraumatic cranial defect in an officer of the Russian army who was treated with a transplant of a dog skull fragment by an unknown surgeon (Sanan 1997). The first allograft successful case of an allograft transplantation was performed by Dr. William Macewen who treated humeral osteomyelitis using bone fragments obtained from other patient in 1879. A lot of research concerning bone and allograft physiology was done during XIX and XX centuries by Ollier, Barth, Axhausen and Phemis- ter among others (Tomford 2000). In 1949, the first bone bank in USA was foun- ded in the Navy Hospital of Bethesda, Maryland (Contreras 1998). In the early 50s bone banks were founded in some cities in Mexico, however most of those banks were closed (Me´ndez 2003). Since then, there have been federal and state efforts to pro- mote organ donation. Tissue donation (with exception of cornea) has been less promoted. The Bone and Tissue Bank of Orthopedics and Traumatology of the University Hospital ‘Dr. Jose´ Eleuterio Gonzalez’ of UANL in Monterrey, Cell and Tissue Banking (2006) 7:215–220 Ó Springer 2006 DOI 10.1007/s10561-005-3392-5