title: The impact of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) program on radiation and tissue banking in Chile.
abstract: The Tissue Banking Project in Chile started as an idea in 1996. Before 1996 in Chile there were only a few small bone banks working with their own standards of quality. The first tissue bank (LPTR) was established in 1998, with the technical and financial support of the IAEA. Since 2001, the laboratory began to produce tissues for clinical use, starting with the processing of 6 amniotic membranes, 2 femoral heads and 19 batches of pig skin. In 2002, the laboratory began the processing of human skin. Five students from Chile have graduated from training courses carried out in Singapore and in Buenos Aires under the IAEA training program since 1998. The amount of tissues produced and sterilized using ionizing radiation by the LPTR in the last years was 320,000 cm(2) of human skin, 553,600 cm(2) of pig skin, 5,400 cm(2) of amniotic membrane, 49 femoral heads, 3 large bones and 300 g of bovine bone. The patients treated with sterilized tissues produced by the LPTR were 200 deep burns treated with human skin and pig skin, 40 bone transplants from femoral heads, 77 ophthalmologic patients treated with amniotic membrane and 150 bovine bone transplants for dental treatments.
authors.affiliation: Chilean Nuclear Energy Commission, Santiago, Chile. paguirre@cchen.cl
authors.forename: Paulina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aguirre Herrera
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morales Pedraza
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002677:Chile; D004493:Education; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D007390:International Agencies; D009678:Nuclear Energy; D011827:Radiation; D013242:Sterilization; D014015:Tissue Banks / Q000266:history / Q000592:standards / Q000600:supply & distribution / Q000639:trends