The impact of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) program on radiation and tissue banking in Korea.
In 1971, first bone bank was established at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Catholic University of Korea. The first clinical case was reported at the Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Association in 1973. Subsequently, more than 60 surgical bone banks were established in the university and teaching hospitals throughout country. In 1990, the Korea Biomaterial Research Institute (KBRI) organised the IAEA/RCA training course on tissue banking. In this course students from 17 countries participated. In 1994 the first collaboration for cadaver tissue recovery was performed. It is important to single out that the various religious groups in Korea have favourable attitudes towards tissue donation, which contributes to the success of the tissue banking programs in the country. The demands of allograft were getting increased in the Korean medical and dental society. Currently, 62 hospital based bone banks, 5 processing tissue banks, 1 regional tissue bank and more than 30 tissue distributors are working in Korea. Based on the U.S.A. usage of more than 1,000,000 grafts per year, 100,000-200,000 grafts will be needed in Korea. Those findings indicate a greatly increased need for training of tissue bank operators. The Korean society will need at least 20-30 tissue bank operators for training in every year. The National Training Centre (NTC) for tissue bank operators and medical personal using the IAEA Curriculum in the Korean languages was established in 2003. From 2004 to 2006, NTC have been trained 40 tissue bank operators. They have produced at least 10,000 tissues per year. These figures indicate a cost saving of US$ 10 million. Within 5 years, NTC will train 100 tissue bank operators. These individuals and their respective banks will provide an increasing number of high quality grafts to the communities they serve at a cost far less than if they were acquired from abroad.
Kang
Yong-Koo
YK
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, St. Vincent's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Suwon, Republic of Korea. ykang@vincent.cuk.ac.kr
Yim
Chang-Joon
CJ
Morales Pedraza
Jorge
J
D001208:Asia; D003479:Curriculum; D004493:Education; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D007390:International Agencies; D007723:Korea; D009678:Nuclear Energy; D011827:Radiation; D014015:Tissue Banks / Q000266:history / Q000600:supply & distribution / Q000639:trends; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting