Donated tissues offer hope for an improved quality of life for recipients, that is why Midwest Transplant Network has an in-house Tissue Procurement Department to surgical recover tissues for many life-enhancing applications. Sophisticated serology testing and more stringent federal regulations have made tissue transplantation much safer in the last decade. As a result, surgeons are finding new ways to use tissue transplants to treat diseases and injuries. With more than 500,000 tissue
transplantation procedures being done in the U.S. each year, the need for donated tissue continues to grow.
Although technology does not allow for whole eye transplantation, corneas, clear outermost lens of the eye, can be transplanted. People suffering from blindness caused by a wide of array of diseases can, often times, have their sight restored.
Midwest Transplant Network is an independent regional laboratory specializing in laboratory procedures to support organ retrieval and transplantation. Laboratories are located in Westwood and Wichita Kansas and provide quality services to the medical and transplant community with expertise in histocompatibility (serology and molecular methodologies), flow cytometry and molecular diagnostics. Both laboratories are Medicare/CLIA certified and have accreditation by the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI). The Westwood laboratory is also accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP).
Midwest Transplant Network laboratory has been a leader in HLA testing in the Midwest region since its inception in 1973. It has been the sole provider of histocompatibility services for solid organ transplantation in Kansas and the Western half of Missouri since. In a concerted effort to keep abreast of new developments in the histocompatibility field, the laboratory has been a major contributor and participant in national and international histocompatibility workshops, has been involved in such projects as defining the presence of new antigens and in studying the long-term graft survival related to matched vs. mismatched organs, crossmatch techniques and other factors.
The flow cytometry laboratory was established in 1982 to complement the transplant program and has expanded to encompass immune monitoring outside the transplant field. Prospective three color crossmatches for regraft patients has become standard in our crossmatch protocol. The molecular diagnostics department was established in 1992 and was the first to develop Cytomegalovirus testing by PCR in the area. HLA typing for Class I and Class II is routinely performed by molecular methods. Midwest Transplant Network is committed to providing the transplant community with high quality services to benefit patients and research programs. For additional information email us at
info@mwtn.org
Organ Donation
There are some things we can not change and unfortunately brain death is one of them. Before declaring brain death, the physician will perform a series of tests to determine brain injury/dysfunction, the patient's ability to breathe without assistance, pupil response to light, stimulus response and blood flow to the brain.
If brain death is declared, it means the person is dead. There is no hope for recovery because blood is not flowing to the brain, thus no oxygen is carried to the brain to allow it to function. The ventilator only keeps the heart beating, and other organs and tissues preserved until family decisions can be made. The heart, kidney, liver or other solid organs may function only a few hours or days after brain death.
Many find hope in knowing that others might live through the giving the "Gift of Life". Up to 50 lives can be saved or enhanced if a family agrees to donate their loved ones organs and tissues. Donation does not prevent a family from having a traditional open casket funeral, is accepted by most religions and the donor family will bear no expenses (evaluation and retrieval of the organs and tissues are responsibility of the procurement agency).
If you have further questions, please contact your nurse, physician or the Midwest Transplant Network at 1-800-366-6791.
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