About Us | Northwest Tissue Services

We may be a blood center, but we also improve eyesight, repair hearts and mend bones.

Northwest Tissue Center was established in 1988 by the Blood Center and other regional medical leaders, with Dr. D. Michael Strong as the first director. The purpose of the Tissue Center is to supply Washington, Idaho, and Montana with safe, high-quality human tissue for patients needing transplants. Since its inception they have become the preferred provider of tissue for many transplant surgeons across the country, as well as internationally.

Steve’s bone replacement to cure his cancer was an extensive one-time surgery performed by Dr. Lyle Sorensen at Virginia Mason.

The Tissue Center was recently renamed Northwest Tissue Services at Puget Sound Blood Center to more accurately reflect its connection to the Blood Center. Surgeons like Lyle Sorensen, MD, Orthopedic Tumor and Limb Reconstruction Surgeon at Virginia Mason have used tissue from Tissue Services to help many patients overcome debilitating illness. One such patient is Steve Barrus who, after seeing a doctor for pain in his hip, was diagnosed with a cancer that had been spreading for nearly seven years. Steve received donor tissue and underwent a bone replacement of over half of his left pelvis. Steve says he knew of bone donation but didn’t really think much about it until he was told that donor bone replacement was his one and only chance of survival. Dr. Sorensen appreciates that Northwest Tissue Services oversees the selection and delivery of tissue from donor to recipient, ensuring quality throughout the process. “It has always been important to me to have the safest, highest quality transplant tissue and bone for my patients, and I rely on Northwest Tissue Services for their expertise and history in this regard.”