Background: The use of homograft tissue instead of various artificial materials in contemporary cardiovascular surgery, although limited by the constant shortage of donor organs, has become the clinically preferable procedure. The proper technique of heart retrieval, with strict donor qualification criteria and sterility procedures, is one of the key points in the successful preparation of allografts to be used later in a selected group of patients undergoing cardiac surgery, especially in the repair of pediatric congenital heart defects.
Material and methods: The article presents the most popular surgical technique to use for retrieving a heart for cardiac homograft in multiorgan procurement and routine autopsy, including the immediate preliminary preparation and transport, as recommended by the majority of tissue bank institutions. The qualification criteria for tissue donation, delicate preparation techniques, and sterility protocols are also important issues for successful cardiac homograft retrieval. Recently a tendency towards a growing number of pediatric donors can be observed. The techniques presented in this article should also be applied in cases of homograft retrieval from pediatric donors.
Results: This article analyzes our seven-year-long experience, involving a total number of 608 hearts retrieved for cardiac homografts, with special attention to the main reasons for disqualification of the organs delivered to the tissue bank.
Conclusions: 1. The procedures for the sterility of tissue retrieval, especially in autopsies with heart retrieval, although they may sometimes be difficult for the surgeon or pathologist, are necessary to provide maximum benefit from harvested tissues. 2. The proper technique for pediatric homograft retrieval is twice as important in tissue delivery protocols.

Keywords: homografts, Tissue Banking, heart retrieval, Heart Transplantation, surgical procedures, cardiac surgery, pediatric cardiac surgery