Tissue Laboratory
In 1989 The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), established a Cryopreservation laboratory to process and store heart valve allografts required for the hospital’s cardiac surgery program. Previously the hospital depended on an outside agency for allografts. In May 1990 the first heart was processed and in July 1990 the first allograft processed at SickKids was implanted. When the Cryopreservation Laboratory was firmly established, heart valve processing services were offered to other Canadian hospitals.Tissues are procured for the SickKids tissue laboratory predominantly by provincial organ and tissue retrieval agencies.
Tissues are also retrieved by pathologists or pathologist’s assistants at the Toronto Coroner’s Office and by pathologists at local hospitals. To ensure that quality allografts are provided, the SickKids Tissue Laboratory follows standards established by the American Association of Tissue Banks. All SickKids tissue processors are AATB Certified Tissue Bank Specialists.
With the redesign of the Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, the cryopreservation laboratory was renamed Tissue Laboratory. This laboratory supplies heart valves and pericardium to SickKids and over 15 other hospitals in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
Latest Accreditation
January 13, 2012- The Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine (DPLM) is pleased to announce the successful assessment of the Tissue Lab and full three-year re-accreditation against ISO 13485 requirements - the quality systems standard for medical devices facilities.
The lab has been accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) since 1995 and ISO 13485 certified with a class IV medical device licence since January 2006. ISO certification is required by Health Canada in order to maintain the licence.
The Tissue Lab is an important part of SickKids, providing human cardiovascular tissue allografts to patients at SickKids and the outside community. Allografts are used for heart valve to valve replacement or to repair congenital issues within the heart using pieces of allografts.
Tissue Lab accreditation and certification is important to patients and surgeons as it provides confidence that the products we supply are as safe as possible and the human donors are tested according to the most recent requirements.
Congratulations to the professional, technical and quality team in DPLM who worked diligently to bring about this success.
Dr. Wendy Lau
Director, Transfusion Medicine
Paediatric Laboratory Medicine
The Hospital for Sick Children
Phone: 416-813-5440
email: wendy.lau@sickkids.ca
Dr. Osami Honjo
Cardiovascular Surgeon
The Hospital for Sick Children
Phone: 416-813-6420
email: osami.honjo@sickkids.ca
Sonny Lazaro
Resource Technologist
Paediatric Laboratory Medicine
The Hospital for Sick Children
Phone: 416-813-5423
email: sonny.lazaro@sickkids.ca