Four patients received body tissue donations from a brain cancer patient, three of whom were infants, the state health department said recently.
Yang GE, chief medical officer of Kunzhou.
(Jeannette Young), chief medical officer of Kunzhou, revealed the shocking incident when he announced a review of the state's heart valve bank today, the Australian news agency reported.
While acknowledging that it was a "terrible mistake," Young said that because the donor had cancer, her cellular tissue was "likely" to be contaminated, and "the risk of bad results from tissue transplantation was fairly low for these four people."
Mr. Young said that the family of all four donors had been informed of the error and that authorities would continue to monitor the health of the patients. But she also stressed that because the four were donated to heart tissue transplants, they also needed regular health check-ups.
It is reported that the donor has gliosarcoma, a malignant brain cancer. Four donors were given their heart valve tissue, three of them infants less than 12 months old, and one young person.
The Kunzhou Department of Health has already conducted an initial review of the matter, but the authorities will also conduct an independent review to determine the cause of the failure and whether it is an isolated incident. The findings are expected to be released by the end of the year.
Despite Mr. Young's repeated emphasis on "very low probability," the Kunzhou Department of Health does not rule out that other patients receive donations from contaminated organizations.