The fact that the meniscus of Ayşe Himmetoğlu, a player on the Galatasaray Volleyball Youth Team who passed away at a young age following a brain hemorrhage, could not be transplanted to her peer, volleyball player Durdane Kökbudak—despite there being no legal obstacles—prompted officials to take action.
The Ministry of Health is favorably considering a request from the specialists who performed Turkey’s first meniscus transplant 10 years ago and obtained permission from the Ministry to establish a tissue bank, calling for meniscus and cartilage donations to be included
in organ donation consent forms.
Thanks to the organs donated by the family of Ayşe Himmetoğlu, who passed away at the age of 16 in the prime of her life, many patients were given a new lease on life. However, despite the family’s consent, the young woman’s menisci could not be transplanted to Durdane Kökbudak—an athlete like herself—who had lost her own menisci in an unfortunate accident during a competition.
It was claimed that the meniscus transplant could not be performed because “approval from the Ministry of Health is required.”
-“THE FAMILY’S CONSENT IS SUFFICIENT”-
Halil Yılmaz Sur, Director of the Organ Transplantation and Dialysis Services Department at the Ministry of Health, stated that the meniscus is a type of cartilage tissue, and that for the transplantation of such tissues from a cadaver to a patient, the family’s consent
is sufficient, and no additional permission from the Ministry of Health is required. “There was no need to even ask the ministry about this,” he said.
Emphasizing that there is no waiting list for cartilage and meniscus transplants, Sur noted that there are no obstacles to performing such a transplant. He added, “Furthermore, in cartilage and meniscus transplants, there is no need for tissue,
age, or blood type compatibility. These tissues, taken from any cadaver, can be transplanted into the desired patient.”Sur also noted that new regulations could be introduced to clarify the confusion in organ transplantation legislation and prevent similar issues from arising.
-“IT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE ORGAN DONATION CONSENT FORM”—
A faculty member of the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology at Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, who performed Turkey’s first meniscus transplant in 1991 and obtained a tissue bank license from the Ministry of Health, and
Tissue Bank Coordinator, stated that since the donation of tissues such as menisci and cartilage is not included in the organ donation consent form, it is mandatory to obtain separate consent from the families. Noting that it is legally impossible to perform meniscus and cartilage transplants using cadaveric tissue without this authorization, Binnet stated that the consent form must include a clause specifying that the donor’s skeletal system is also being donated, just as is the case with kidneys, hearts, and livers.
Binnet described the process regarding this issue in Turkey as follows:
‘”Due to the lack of regulations in our country, we had suspended meniscus transplants for the past five years.
The regulations issued by the Ministry of Health last October largely resolved this issue. During this period, we continued our efforts to ensure that such treatments could be performed in our country and that our patients could benefit from these modern treatments,
and we established a tissue bank within the Ankara University Faculty of Medicine. Thanks to this, we are now in a position to resume
meniscus and cartilage transplants. However, there are still a couple of minor details that need to be addressed before these obstacles can be completely eliminated.
“Within the national organ transplant coordination system, the issue of obtaining donor consent for this procedure also needs to be resolved.”
Binnet, who reported that the Ministry of Health had responded positively to their request submitted last week, stated, “If this consent is granted within the organ transplant process, we have the capacity to harvest and store menisci and cartilage.” “I hope that awareness of donating menisci, cartilage, and bone will also become widespread in the future, and that our patients awaiting treatment will
gain access to it,” he said.
Noting that the country had suffered significant financial losses because such tissues related to the musculoskeletal system were imported from abroad prior to the Ministry of Health’s regulation, Binnet added that such transplants
could be performed on active young people who have lost their menisci for any reason, as well as on patients who have the ability to regenerate tissue and require the regeneration of cartilage in areas such as the knee and ankle
.
Source Link: https://www.medimagazin.com.tr/hekim/saglik-bak/tr-organ-bagisinda-meniskus-vekikirdak-onayi-da-geliyor-2-13-33651.html