The results of scientific research, carried out with donor tissue, appear as articles in various international scientific journals. This usually occurs years after the donation has taken place. The researchers inform the Hartenbank about articles that have been written using heart tissue from the Hartenbank. These lists are published on the website and in the annual reports of the Hartenbank. The findings from future scientific research are not reported back to the Hartenbank on an individual level. As a result, it is not possible to inform the relatives about later individual findings of the donor’s heart tissue.

Sometimes major breakthroughs occur in scientific research, but usually these are small steps that provide a better understanding of the functioning of the heart and of the various disease processes. Results of scientific research are generally not immediately applicable in clinical practice.