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Sheba’s anatomical tissue bank serves as Israel’s national repository for donated bones and tendons and also processes skin, corneas, and heart valves.
By Shula Rosen
Sheba Medical Center said its national tissue bank has enabled doctors to avoid amputating the leg of a toddler with bone cancer by reconstructing the child’s femur using donated human tissue.
This approach, hospital officials say, demonstrates both the medical potential and the limits of tissue donation in Israel, Ynet reported.
According to Sheba, the case began about a year ago when a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the medical center contacted the tissue bank regarding a child about 18 months old who had been diagnosed with cancer in the femur.
Amputation was considered the standard lifesaving option, and the surgeon asked whether a biological alternative might be possible.
Dr. Ayelet Di Segni, director of Sheba’s tissue bank, told Ynet that the team agreed to pursue a limb-sparing approach based on the bank’s experience developing biological reconstructions, rather than relying on artificial implants.
Using imaging scans and Sheba’s 3D laboratory, specialists produced a precise model of the section of bone that had to be removed.
Sheba’s anatomical tissue bank serves as Israel’s national repository for donated bones and tendons and also processes skin, corneas, and heart valves.
Di Segni said the bank was reestablished in 2022 after studying leading international models, moving tissue processing from operating rooms into tightly regulated laboratory environments.
The facility is divided between cellular therapy units that grow and store skin grafts for burn victims and sections that preserve tissues recovered from deceased donors.
Storage areas include monitored freezers and liquid nitrogen tanks, with automated alerts for temperature changes.
Deputy laboratory director Dr. Ron Borstein said donated bone and tendons are processed for use across orthopedic, oncologic, oral, and reconstructive procedures. He and Di Segni said the bank’s work is constrained primarily by a shortage of donors, noting that a single tissue donation can benefit dozens of patients.
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