Advances in Tissue Banking is the first authoritative publication to encompass this interdisciplinary field, which is now providing hundreds of thousands of tissue grafts for transplant surgery every year worldwide (400,000 grafts in the USA alone annually). There is no text book which can be consulted about the subject, since the field has moved so rapidly over the past few years. The scientific and medical publications are scattered throughout specialised literature and are not readily accessible to all the diverse practitioners.This book, volume 1 of the new series, is written by experts on the subject. It is designed to fill the gap and provide a vehicle of communication for those participating in various aspects of the subject. Regulators are still in the process of coming to grips with the requirements to ensure safety and find a suitable definition within the legislative system for a "transplant tissue". The various transplant donation systems in various countries differ. Allografts are used extensively in orthopaedic surgery, burns and wound healing. Heart valve banking has now established itself. Central to the subject is the prevention of the transmission of infection, with great emphasis being placed on the screening of donors, preservation and sterilisation of the tissues using the best and safest procedures.Nobody connected with regulating, producing, or using tissues can afford to be without the concentrated information so readily provided in this book, which is not available elsewhere. It will also be of great value to scientists and doctors who wish to learn about the subject and to introduce it into general scientific and medical education.