Blackened transplantologists

How dead bones save the livingSergey Gudnik, Svetlana Riznooka, photo by Sergey Gudnik

The scandal with the alleged illegal sale of bones and soft tissues of the Ukrainian dead to Germany is gaining momentum. The Ministry of Health yesterday rejected all the accusations made in the resonant publication of the famous magazine "Spiegel" addressed to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the shocking facts are being checked not only by the SBU, but also by German law enforcement officers – in relation to the German company "Tutogen", where, according to "Spiegel", the fabrics of our dead were supplied. In this regard, the issue of using biomaterials in medicine – in fact, parts of dead people – is becoming increasingly acute. Is it ethical or not? Doctors unanimously declare: yes! "BLIK" went to the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine. There, to save the living, doctors have been using bones and soft tissues of the dead for more than 50 years!

On the desktop of Galina Shkurko, the head of the tissue preservation laboratory, there are three photos of a little girl.

– She was born without an auricle, look, – Galina Alekseevna shows a picture in which the child does not have a right ear. – Surgeons implanted rib cartilage taken from the corpse in this place. And here is the result! – the doctor rejoices, as if he sees a healed child for the first time.

From a special refrigerator (the temperature is constantly -30 ⁰) Galina Alekseevna takes out plastic bags with pieces of femur and tibia. They turn out to be the most popular. Then the doctor shows a package with a triangular piece – this is a part of the skull, which can also save someone soon.

– Previously, we also harvested blood vessels, heart valves and even eyeballs! And all this was going to save people! – he remembers the head of the laboratory with sadness.

With sadness – because hard times have come for her "economy" for a long time. With the adoption of the law on transplantation in 1999, it became very difficult to remove organs and tissues from the dead: the consent of relatives is required, and it is extremely difficult to achieve them.

– The law has tied us hand and foot! You can't even take a cell without permission! Once we harvested so much that we could provide for the whole country. Every year, our center alone preserved biomaterial from about 120 corpses. Now we can't even meet the needs of the institute – at best we process 10 corpses a year. Therefore, the waiting lists for transplants are huge! – Galina Alekseevna admits. And he remembers such a case. – A few years ago, the son of one of the famous doctors got into an accident. A skull graft was needed. No matter how they asked our laboratory to find the right fragment, nothing came of it. We just didn't have it! And the guy was given plastic. I suffered for a long time with her, poor man!

Galina Shkurko's employees dissect corpses in the Central Kiev Morgue, side by side with the specialists of the Bioimplant company, around which a scandal broke out. It turns out that it is very difficult to pick up a "special donor" (as they call corpses).

– We are only suitable for those who died of coronary heart disease or as a result of mechanical asphyxia – that is, hanged (age – from 18 to 60 years). We do not take drowned people even after an accident. Homeless people, too, all of them, as a rule, are sick. And the list of diseases in which tissues cannot be removed is huge! – says Galina Alekseevna.

But no matter how hard it was to extract biomaterial and make it suitable for operations, the head of the laboratory proudly declares:

– Our bones are better than German ones – they are alive! And the fabrics that are processed in Germany are inert, everything in them is killed by radiation, they are like plastic. In addition, ours have been used in medicine for 50 years! It's just a pity that we can't produce as many transplants as people need. 

Where implants are used
 
In case of severe injuries
The treated fragments of the deceased's tissues are implanted in place of the shattered bone, torn muscles.

With congenital defects
Bioimplants help to correct congenital deformities of the bones of the legs, spine, skull defects, anomalies of the esophagus. An implant made from a pericardial bag is used to save children born with a very severe pathology – a defect of the anterior abdominal wall.

In ophthalmology
Implants made from the cornea of the eye help to regain vision lost as a result of injury.

In dentistry
Sterile bioimplants fill the voids in the bones of the jaws formed during tooth extraction, after removing the rotten part of the bone itself.

In plastic surgery
Skin implants help hide the effects of burns, scars, and other types of external injuries. They are used for nose and ear plastic surgery.
 
The case of the Krivoy Rog doctors is already in courtIn November of last year, the police of Krivoy Rog (Dnipropetrovsk region) and the regional administration of the SBU suspected local forensic experts that they forced relatives to give permission for the removal and use of tissues of corpses.

The Ministry of Health denied this, but a criminal case was still opened. Now it is in court, Acting Prosecutor of Krivoy Rog Lidiya Denisenko told "BLIK".
 
Specialist's comment

Professor Georgy Gaiko, Director of the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine:
  – To get the consent of relatives, you need money. We are a budget organization and we do not sell transplants, there is no money. And transplants need a lot, a lot! We can take tissue from one, maximum two corpses per month, but we need at least 10!

And while this problem is not solved, living people suffer. As for the products of Tutogen, they are sold, but very expensive. I believe that we need a state laboratory that would centrally deal with obtaining permits and harvesting fabrics.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru27.08.2009