The Up-Pgh Tissue Bank

MANILA, Philippines - The Tissue Bank in the Philippines started in 1984 as a research grant awarded by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the late Dr. Norberto Agcaoili, a consultant of the Department of Orthopedics in UP-PGH. He became the Chief scientific investigator of this project entitled “The Preparation and Clinical Use of Irradiated Sterilized Bone and Skin Allografts in the Philippines”. He is attributed to having started the field of tissue banking in the Philippines.

The project was able to obtain several equipment necessary for the processing of bone allografts through the technical assistance program of the IAEA, Tissues for processing were initially obtained from the Philippine General Hospital, the Philippine Orthopedic Center (formerly National Orthopedic Hospital) and Saint Luke’s Medical Center. Initially, the allografts were sent to the Biomedical Section of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) for processing, radiation sterilization (terminal sterilization using a Cobalt 60 source) and microbiological testing.

In May 1990, the Tissue Bank laboratory transferred to the UP-College of Medicine in Manila. Donor screening, tissue processing, packing, storage and distribution have been done in this building. A full-time, tissue technician, Mrs. May S. Turqueza has been with the bank since the lab was formally inaugurated in 1990. 

With the completion of the 3rd and 4th floors of the Spine Unit and Orthopedic Learning Center Building in May 2004, the Tissue Bank transferred to its permanent location. It is now housed at the 4th floor of the Spine Bldg., adjacent to the old Orthopedics complex. Since then, all activities pertaining to tissue banking has been transferred here.

On December 8, 2009, upon approval by the UP Board of Regents, the bank’s name was changed to Norberto R. Agcaoili Memorial Tissue Bank (NRAMTB) in honor of its founder, the “Father of Tissue Banking in the Philippines”.

Currently, the bank’s Medical Director is Dr. Gregorio Marcelo S. Azores, an orthopedic surgeon who also has extensive knowledge in tissue banking activities. He became a member of the hospital harvest team of the Rubinoff Bone and Tissue Bank at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto while on his fellowship.   He is assisted by our equally able Technical Director, Dr. Albert Jerome D. Quintos, an orthopedic tumor surgeon, who is in charge of the day-to-day activities of the bank. 

Since it started, the Tissue Bank has already produced close to 300 deep-frozen   allografts which have been used to reconstruct and save the limbs of recipients, most of whom are tumor patients. The availability of banked bone has definitely made an impact because the limbs of these patients have been saved from amputation. This makes a big difference on the quality of life of the bone allograft recipients. Similarly, the bank has produced thousands of cancellous and cortical bone in the form of chips, struts, morsels or granules which have been used for bone tumors, joint reconstructions, scoliosis surgeries and many other orthopedic conditions requiring them. 

The presence of the Tissue Bank has provided the orthopedic surgeons an additional tool for the treatment of disabling conditions. Many surgeons not only in PGH, but even those in the provinces have used allografts from our bank and have provided their patients an option to amputation. However, as with other organ and tissue donation centers, one of our primary concerns is still the scarcity of donors. There is a significant number of patients with conditions requiring bone allografts, but available banked bones are still not enough. We hope that with our initiative, we can generate more support for bone donations in the future. 

Advocacy: 

The primary objective of the Tissue Bank is the procurement, processing, storage and distribution of tissue grafts for medical use in the research and treatment of various conditions, especially in Orthopedics. Tissues that may be processed are bone, amnion, dura mater, fascia lata, tendons and ligaments.

The Tissue Bank aims to promote the various uses of the products of the bank through lectures, symposia and conferences involving the medical as well as other fields of science interested in tissue banking related activities. We also aim to maintain a high quality of standard in the preparation of the tissue grafts. With our initiative, we encourage the research on the various tissues being produced and expand to other tissues depending on the bank’s available resources.

The safety and reliability of the tissue allografts have been proven by the experience of the surgeons that have been using them. Initially, the surgeons were only from the Department of Orthopedics of UP-PGH. However, through the years, banked tissues, especially bone, have been steadily been gaining popularity as an option for reconstruction.   It has been used in other hospitals throughout the Philippines. The allografts are made available to anyone at a minimal cost to defray the cost of processing and delivery of the tissue grafts.

The allografts from our Bank are now accepted as a common alternative to autografts in many centers. Numerous researches have been done to further study the allografts and the results of their use. The most important achievement of this endeavor is that now, there are bone grafts available for reconstruction of defects caused by tumors or for restoration of bone stock in difficult primary and revision joint replacement surgeries. It has also been shown that radiation sterilization as the main method of sterilization for biologic materials is safer and may be the ideal method of sterilization for such materials. We hope to increase the volume of our available grafts with the establishment of linkages with the other Hospital Transplant Units.

We are indeed very privileged to have been part of the first Tissue Bank in the country at UP-PGH. All these would not have been possible without the generous help of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, Vienna) and the untiring efforts of our mentor, the late Dr. Norberto R. Agcaoili, after whom the Tissue Bank has been renamed.