Pulmonary homograft (PH):
PH implanted in the University Hospital of Nantes were provided by the
European Homograft Bank (EHB) in Brussel (Belgium) [7]. PH were
harvested from donors heart or explanted heart during heart
transplantation. Morphological and quality assessment of the PH was
systematically performed by EHB after harvesting. PH were incubated with
3 antibiotics (lincomycin, vancomycin andpolymixin B) during 20-48
hours, and cryopreserved at -150°C in a 10% dimethysulfoxid solution.
The maximum period of cryopreservation of the PH was 5 years. All the
cryopreserved PH was decellularized during the study period. The quality
criterions of the EHB respected the European recommendations 2006/17/EC
and 2006/86/EC.