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Storage time for cartilage transplant tissue doubled by MU researchers
Mar 16, 2012
This story features new collaborative research by Jimi Cook, an orthopedic surgeon whose former work on arthritis in pets’ knees received funding through Mizzou Advantage.
From MU News Bureau
COLUMBIA, Mo. — For years, doctors have been able to treat defects in joint cartilage by grafting cartilage donated from cadavers into patients’ bad joints. Using current methods, donated cartilage can be stored for 28 days for a transplant before the tissue becomes too degraded to transplant into a patient. Now, researchers from the University of Missouri have found a way to store donated cartilage more than twice as long.
“Currently, nearly 80 percent of all donated tissue has to be discarded because it deteriorates before a transplant bank can find a match with a patient who needs a transplant,” James Cook, a researcher from the MU College of Veterinary Medicine and the William C. and Kathryn E. Allen Distinguished Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery, said. “By more than doubling the time we can store tissue, the odds of matching the tissue with a recipient are greatly increased.”
In a study due to be published in the Journal of Knee Surgery, Cook and Aaron Stoker from MU’s Comparative Orthopaedic Laboratory, Clark Hung and Eric Lima from Columbia University, and James Stannard, the J. Vernon Luck Sr. Distinguished Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery in the MU School of Medicine, tested tissue using their patented system, which includes storing the tissue at room temperature in a specially designed container and storage solution. The researchers found that their system preserved transplant-quality tissue for as long as 63 days. The collaborative team of researchers also developed a way to monitor the quality of the stored tissue simply by testing a few drops of their patented storage solution. More…