Coding and traceability in Iran.
Transplantation has a long history in Iran. Cornea was the first tissue transplantation in 1935. The Central Eye Bank of Iran was established in 1991 and the Iranian Tissue Bank (ITB) in 1994. Now, there are also some private cell and tissue banks in the country, that produce different tissue grafts such as homograft heart valves, musculoskeletal tissues, soft tissues, cartilages, pericardium, amniotic membrane and some cell based products. There is not a separate legislation for tissue transplantation but the legal framework for tissue donation is based on the "Deceased or Brain dead patient organ transplantation" act (passed on April 6, 2000). For tissue banking there is no regulatory oversight by the national health authority. To increase the level of safety and considering the importance of effective traceability, each tissue bank has its own policy and terminology for coding and documentation without any correlation to others. In some cases tissue banks have implemented ISO based standards (i.e., ISO 9001) as a basic quality management system.
Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, and Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Repair Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shariati Hospital, North Kargar Avenue, Tehran, Iran. aghayan_itb@yahoo.com
Hamid Reza
HR
Aghayan
Mitra
M
Mahdavi-Mazdeh
Parisa
P
Goodarzi
Babak
B
Arjmand
Seyed Hassan
SH
Emami-Razavi
D001926:Brain Death / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D001330:Electronic Data Processing / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014015:Tissue Banks / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D014019:Tissue Donors; D016378:Tissue Transplantation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D019737:Transplants / Q000592:standards*