03/13/2022

Indiana Donor Network to Modify Tissue Recovery Process on Upper-Leg

Beginning April 1, 2022

Indiana Donor Network partners with Community Tissue Services, a nonprofit tissue processor that transforms full thickness skin tissue into transplantable grafts for burn survivors. Burn survivors, especially those who have experienced large surface area burns, are very susceptible to infection as their first line of defense – their skin – has been removed. When multiple small grafts must be sewn together, each stitch is another potential risk of infection. By ensuring that each zone of skin removed is as large as possible, we can contribute to a safer and more successful outcome for the recipient.

We feel strongly in taking an approach that doesn’t require us to discard any tissue that is not removed as a part of recovery, which can happen in more aggressive approaches. It’s also important that our chosen approach doesn’t drastically change the treatment process for our funeral director partners.

With this in mind, we are modifying our process to increase the surface area of the anterior leg recovery only, still in conjunction with back and abdominal skin. Skin will be recovered from the thigh area, when bone is also recovered. We will simply recover a little more circumferentially, while leaving an approximate 12-inch strip on the backside of the donor.

To assist you with treatment, Indiana Donor Network will begin wrapping anterior thighs in charcoal pads and tie with embalming string prior to transport. We will also send four additional charcoal pads and two rolls of coban along with the standard supplies we traditionally already provide. This approach was developed based on feedback from your peers in the funeral services industry.

Please send any questions you may have about this modified process to funeraldirectors@indonornetwork.org. We are here to serve as a resource during this transition, and, through adoption of this process, we appreciate your role in providing better outcomes to burn patients.