“Bone Bank” inaugurated at Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, MAHE, Manipal

Team Udayavani, Sep 17, 2023, 4:00 PM IST

Today, Bone Bank was inaugurated by Dr Ranjan R Pai, Chairman of Manipal Education and Medical Group at Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, MAHE Manipal. This is an initiative of the Manipal Foundation.

Mr. Harinarayan Sharma, CEO of Manipal Foundation, Lt Gen (Dr) M D Venkatesh- Vice Chancellor MAHE Manipal, and Dr. Sharath Kumar Rao-Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health Sciences), MAHE, Manipal were the Guests of Honour for the Program. Dr. H S Ballal- Pro Chancellor, MAHE, Manipal presided over the program.

Dr Ranjan Pai congratulated the Kasturba Hospital and College on the inauguration of the Bone Bank and wished success.

On this occasion, Dr. Harinarayan Sharma expressed that Bone Bank is the first of its kind in Manipal network hospitals, as well as in this northern coastal Karnataka, which will be useful for the patients.

Dr. M D Venkatesh mentioned that bone bank allografts are cheaper and superior than the commercially available alternatives, despite the cost incurred in processing/radiation-sterilisation of the donor bone (to be borne by the recipient).

Dr. H S Ballal- Pro Chancellor, MAHE, Manipal in his presidential address asserted that, Manipal has always been at the forefront of introducing new facilities and new technologies and he emphasized the need and importance of a bone bank nowadays.

Dr. Sharath K. Rao congratulated all those who worked hard to start a bone bank and commented that the facilities available in big cities are now available in Manipal too.

In his detailed overview Dr. Monappa Naik Aroor, Professor of Orthopaedics and Convener of Bone Bank shared that, massive bone grafts are needed in managing large bone defects in tumour resection (especially in younger children where autografts is not a valid choice to reconstruct larger defects), gap non-union of fractured bones and defect management of joint reconstruction/revision surgeries. Allografts constitute the tissue transplants within the members of the same species which are genetically non-identical (human to human).

The source of bone is from potential living or deceased healthy voluntary donors. Bone parts resected during joint replacement (arthroplasty) procedures and in selected amputations are the main sources of living donors (otherwise these are discarded as bio-waste). All these donated bones undergo a series of processing (to make it free from blood, fat, contamination and micro-organisms) to make it safe and infection free for usage (upcycling). The bone bank consists of wet and dry processing areas apart from the documentation/receiving area, deep freezer room and storage/distribution area. After processing of the donor bone (dissection, cutting, washing, pasteurisation, freeze-drying, packing, labelling and sealing), ensuring the high quality and safety (moisture-free and low bioburden), the material should be end sterilised with Gamma radiation.

With all these procedures (procuring, curing, storing, distributing), the bone bank will be the source for upcycled bone tissue as allografts (freeze-dried Gamma irradiated end product) for the needful massive grafts in Orthopaedic reconstructive surgeries. Bone bank allografts will solve the issues of size/amount of graft needed.

Dr. Avinash Shetty, Medical Superintendent, Kasturba Hospital informed that once the licensing for this project is completed, the products will be available for the therapeutic purpose.

Mrs Shruthi R Pai, Dr Giridhar Kini, Registrara, MAHE Manipal,sr CG Muthana, COO, MAHE Manipal, Dr. Anand Venugopal, COO, Teaching Hospital, MAHE Manipal, All Associate Deans, Dr. Shyamasunder Bhat N, Professor and Head Department of Orthopaedics were present.

Media Release