Why consider donating tissue for research?

By Edith Pituskin RN BScN & John Mackey MD

Why do researchers need tissue?

Research with tissue can help to find out more about what causes cancer, how to prevent it, how to treat it, and how to cure it. Research using tissue can also answer other health questions. Some of these include finding the causes of diabetes and heart disease, or finding genetic links to Alzheimer’s disease.

Where does tissue come from?

After a person has had a biopsy (or surgery) and all tests have been done, there may be some left over tissue. Sometimes, this tissue is thrown away because it is not needed for the patient’s care. Instead, a person can choose to have their tissue kept for future research.

The research project at the Cross Cancer Institute

The purpose of this project is to establish a breast tumor tissue bank. With the new technologies that are now available, we hope to be able to find out how to to know in the future what treatment would be best for each person based on their DNA analysis.

Several surgeons in the Edmonton area are helping with this project. When a person takes part in the tissue bank project, only left over tissue is saved for research. The surgeons do not take out any more tissue during surgery than what is normally needed to remove a tumor.

Will I find out the results of the research using my tissue?

The results of research projects can take a long time and must use tissue samples from many people before results are known. However, if there is a discovery that could help you, the Northern Alberta Breast Cancer Program will let your doctor know about this.

How do I find out more?

If you would like to know more about this research project, you may contact the research nurse Edie Pituskin at 780 432-8792 for more information. For a current list of participating surgeons and pathologists, please check our Research page.

Sources

1. Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, 3rd edition, 2000.
2. National Action Plan on Breast Cancer (NAPBC) http://www.4woman.gov/napbc/
3. Watson PH, Snell L, Parisien M: The NCIC - Manitoba Breast Tumor Bank: a resource for applied cancer research. Can med Assoc J 1196;155:281 - 283.
4. Goldacre M, Kurina L, Yeates D, Seagroatt V, Gill L: Use of large medical databases to study associations between diseases. QJM 2000;93:669 - 675.
5. Perou C, Sorlie T, Eisen M, van de Rijn M, Jeffrey S, Rees C, et al: Molecular portraits of human breast tumors. Nature 2000; 406: 747 - 752.