Below are our FAQ's. Check them out.
You must see Dr. Spears or the Physician Assistant to get a diagnosis and a prescription. Please also see "What if I already have prescription for PT?"
You will have some pain. Pain medication is not given to eliminate pain but to make the pain more tolerable.
All tissue comes from donations of cadavers. The Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas is notified by various hospitals at the time of a death. There is pre-screening to find out the cause of death and as well as any additional information. The family of the deceased is contacted to present the option of donating the cadaver.
If the family agrees to donate the cadaver, an extensive medical and social history is conducted. If the deceased had AIDS or hepatitis, the cadaver is automatically eliminated from further consideration. Serology testing is then conducted for HIV (including DNA testing), hepatitis as well as other serious diseases. If the results of any of these tests are positive, the cadaver is eliminated from further consideration. If the tests are all negative, the Blood and Tissue Center recovers the tissue (body parts) and performs culture tests. Processing of the tissue includes irradiation of the tissue through gamma radiation. Also, during the processing stages, they perform swab testing before, during and after the process. The final swab test tells them if there is anything at all growing on the tissue.
The Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas has strict quality control measures to ensure that the entire processing environment is sterile. All rooms where processing is performed are “broken down” when the processing of any one cadaver is complete and then sterilized between donors to prevent any possibility of cross-contamination. No two cadavers are ever processed in the same room at the same time. The FDA regulates the industry and has routinely passed the Blood and Tissue Center of Central Texas with “flying colors” upon inspection. However, the testing at The Blood and Tissue Center goes well beyond what is required by the FDA. In addition, The Blood and Tissue Center is a member of the American Association of Tissue Banks which also performs inspections every three years.
If you have any other medically-related questions, call our office at 708-8834 and ask for one of the medical assistants. If it is outside normal business hours and you can not wait until our office opens, you may page Dr. Spears through the medical exchange at (512) 323-5465.