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. 2010 Jan;37(1):74-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.ejcts.2009.07.005. Epub 2009 Aug 19.

The potential of cardiac allografts from donors after cardiac death at the University of Wisconsin Organ Procurement Organization

Satoru Osaki  1 , James E Anderson, Maryl R Johnson, Niloo M Edwards, Takushi Kohmoto
Affiliations

The potential of cardiac allografts from donors after cardiac death at the University of Wisconsin Organ Procurement Organization

Satoru Osaki et al. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2010 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential availability of hearts from adult donation after cardiac death (DCD) donors within an acceptable hypoxic period.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a donor database from the University of Wisconsin Organ Procurement Organization Donor Tracking System between 2004 and 2006. The DCD population (n=78) was screened using our inclusion criteria for DCD cardiac donor suitability, including warm ischaemic time (WIT) limit of 30 min. In the same period, 70 hearts were donated from brain-dead donors.

Results: Of 78 DCD donors, 12 (15%) met our proposed DCD cardiac donor criteria. The mean WIT of these 12 DCD donors was 21 min (range 14-29 min). When inclusion criteria are further narrowed to (1) age <30 years, (2) WIT <20 min and (3) male gender, only two out of 12 met the criteria.

Conclusions: Based on our proposed DCD cardiac donor criteria, the potential application of DCD cardiac donors would represent an increase in cardiac donation of 17% (12/70) during the 3-year period. When the criteria were narrowed to the initial 'ideal' case, only two donors met such criteria, suggesting that such 'ideal' DCD donors are rare but they do exist.

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