Custom made sample collection boxes are assembled at our Oxford site and distributed nationally to Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation (SNODs) and abdominal retrieval teams.
Using the QUOD Box (pictured below), samples of donor blood and urine are collected at four different time points covering the donor management period, all the way through to the point of organ retrieval.
Tissue samples are collected from donor organs during the retrieval procedure and stored in two different media, preserving the tissue in the best way possible whilst allowing for the widest variety of analyses to be carried out in future studies.
Samples are processed in Regional QUOD Centres and their unique identifying barcodes are recorded on the QUOD database to preserve traceability and anonymise the donor.
The QUOD database links clinical donor information to the samples collected for QUOD and allows researchers to access samples that are most appropriate for their study requirements. All samples collected for the QUOD programme are routinely shipped back to the national bio-repository for further processing, cataloguing and storage.
Flow Chart for Obtaining DBD Samples
Flow Chart for Obtaining DCD Samples
