The Homograft Bank was established in August 2000 as a processing laboratory for human homograft heart valves in the Gauteng Area, South Africa.
In November 2002 the Valve Bank was introduced into the Southern Group of Companies based in Irene Pretoria. Where a state – of – the – art Clean Room facility was built for the processing of the heart valves. These Clean Rooms consists of a Class 100 000 reception room which leads into a Class 10 000 Heart preparation room, which in turn walks into a change room and valve preparation room of Class 100 status.
Since the beginning Southern Cryoscience has established a trustworthy service to a selective group of specialist Cardiothoracic Surgeons in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.
The heart valves are processed according to Good Tissue Practice Standards, complying with FDA standards. The donor suitability criterion complies with European donor criteria as stipulated by the British Association of Tissue Banks and European Association of Tissue Banks.
The utmost care is taken to ensure that only the best quality valves are banked to be transplanted when necessary. To ensure the satisfaction of the surgeon transplanting the valves photos are taken showing measurements and overall quality of the valve. This is accompanied by a diagram and short description of the valve. This description indicates abnormalities such as fenestrations, atheroma, calcification and accessory coronaries on the valves.
