ISBT 128 – The Global Information Standard for Medical Products of Human Origin
ISBT 128 is the global standard for the terminology, identification, coding and labeling of medical products of human origin (including blood, cell, tissue, milk, and organ products). It is used in more than 87 countries across six continents and disparate health care systems. It is widely endorsed by the professional community.
The standard has been designed to ensure the highest levels of accuracy, safety, and efficiency for the benefit of donors and patients worldwide. ISBT 128 provides international consistency to support the transfer, traceability and transfusion/transplantation of blood, cells, tissues and organs.
ICCBBA, the international standards organization responsible for the management and development of the ISBT 128 Standard, is a Non-State actor in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO). For more information, please view ICCBBA's press release.
The acronym ISBT was originally derived from the important role played by the International Society of Blood Transfusion in the development of the standard. Today it expands as Information Standard for Blood and Transplant. The number 128 reflects the 128 characters of the ISO/IEC 646 7-bit character set. The acronym ICCBBA is derived from the International Council for Commonality in Blood Banking Automation.