Post-mortem collection of human joint tissues for research

Objective. A feasibility study aiming to obtain post-mortem knee joint tissues from 10 donors for research. Methods. Next of kin were approached by bereavement officers then informed about the project by the study nurse. Written consent was sought to collect bone, cartilage and soft tissue from both knees, and to extract data from medical notes. Results. During the 4-month study period 259 families attended the King's Mill Hospital Bereavement Centre, 36 of whom met with the study nurse, 10 of whom consented to joint tissue collecting. The process of seeking consent required approximately 1 h of direct contact. Participants often looked to this as an extension of the bereavement counselling process and many expressed gratitude that some good might be derived from the death. Reasons for non-recruitment included operational restraints and relatives' distress. Donors were more likely to be male (90%) than were non-donors (49%, Z=-2.6, P < 0.01). Coroner's postmortem examinations took place on similar proportions of donors (20%) and non-donors (19%, Z=-0.06, P = 0.96). Conclusions. Post-mortem joint tissue collection for research remains feasible in the presence of a skilled, well co-ordinated, multidisciplinary team, even when postmortem examination would not otherwise be required.