The evaluation of suitability for tissue donation is based on the subject’s medical, social, sexual and clinical history, physical evaluation and blood screening. This evaluation is performed by our designated personnel. In the case where the personnel is not part of the Musculoskeletal Tissue Bank BTM IOR, a written agreement will be provided for donor evaluation, type of tissues and blood suitable for donation following present procurement guidelines.

The live potential donors need to fill in a form or a questionnaire for the clinical anamnesis and provide as much documentation as possible. As far as cadaver donors are concerned, the abovementioned information will be asked to the next of kin, the general practitioner and other medical professionals involved in the patient’s clinical history. 
All the documentation acquired needs to be verified, and in the case of live potential donors, they will need to confirm the reliability of the information supplied.

Tissue donation IS NOT POSSIBLE if at least one of the following circumstances occurs:

• illness with an unidentified cause
• history or ongoing clinical evidence of HIV, HBV or HCV or jaundice of unidentified cause
• subjects with risk factors for HIV, HBV or HCV
• subjects at risk of having contracted STDs in the past 12 months
• prostitution in the past 12 months
• use of drugs in the past 12 months
• subjects affected by haemophilia who have undergone therapy with human-derived concentrates of coagulation factors
• subjects who have been exposed to potential HIV, HBV or HCV infections in the past 12 months, via percutaneous, open wounds or mucose
• subjects undergoing chronic haemodialysis for more than a month due to chronic kidney failure
• subjects who have been detained in jail in the past 12 months
• diagnosed or treated STDs in the past 12 months
• tattoos, piercing or acupuncture in the past 12 months, unless performed with sterile instruments
• subjects with partners who are or have been at risk of HIV, HBV or HCV infections in the past 12 months
• systemic infections not detected at the moment of donation, including bacterial and systemic viral infections, fungal, parasitic and other severe infections of tissues and cells
• subjects at risk or with a family history of prion diseases
• subjects at risk or with a family history of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• subjects with dementia or any other chronic degenerative diseases of the central nervous system of unidentified causes, i.e. Alzheimer's disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Lateral Amyotrophic Sclerosis (LAS), sclerosing panencephalitis, Parkinson’s disease, Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML)
• subjects who have received pituitary hormone therapy or dura mater allograft or underwent unspecified Intra-cranial surgery
• subjects who underwent surgery, blood or blood derivatives transfusion in the United Kingdom between 1984 and 1996
• Reye syndrome
• subjects with an ongoing or with a history of malignant neoplasm except for the following: basal cell carcinoma (BCC), in situ cervical carcinoma,  in situ vocal cords carcinoma, in situ bladder carcinoma
• subjects who underwent organ transplant, eye tissue transplant or xenotransplantation
• significant ingestion or exposure to toxic substances, i.e. cyanide, lead, mercury, gold
• history of immune-suppressant pharmacological treatments
• subjects who underwent chemotherapy or radiotherapy, unless they are potential cornea donors
• autoimmune or collagen diseases which could compromise the quality of tissues
• live attenuated virus vaccination (i.e. measles, rubella, mumps, chickenpox, smallpox, yellow fever) in the 4 weeks prior to donation
• subjects at risk of infectious diseases due to recent trips to endemic areas or come into contact recently with another infected subject, non-identifiable via testing
• hematopoietic diseases, i.e. monoclonal gammopathies, myelodysplasia, polycythaemia vera