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. 2023 May 2:28:e939521.
doi: 10.12659/AOT.939521.

The Incidence of Brain-Dead Donors Based on Screening and Management Led by Intensivists

Affiliations

The Incidence of Brain-Dead Donors Based on Screening and Management Led by Intensivists

Hyo Jin Lee et al. Ann Transplant. .

Abstract

BACKGROUND This study aimed to compare the incidence of brain-dead (BD) donors and potential brain-dead (PBD) donors before vs after the introduction of intensivists. MATERIAL AND METHODS This longitudinal retrospective study was performed between January 2012 and December 2020 at Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center. Four dedicated intensivists were introduced in January 2016. The periods before and after introduction of the intensivists were defined as the pre-introduction period (2012-2015) and post-introduction period (2016-2020), respectively. RESULTS During the study period, there were 2872 discharges in the Intensive Care Unit, of which there were a total of 113 PBD (3.93%) and 36 BD (1.25%) donors. The number of PBD and BD donors increased in the post-introduction period compared in the pre-introduction period (PBD, 47.84 vs 27.14 per 1000 discharges; BD, 13.59 vs 11.03 per 1000 discharges). Poisson regression analysis showed the annual incidence rate of PBD donors significantly increased post-introduction (PBD, 27.53% vs 48.11%, P=0.044), while those of BD donors were similar between the 2 groups (BD, 11.41% vs 13.9%; P=0.743). The annual incidence rate of the total number of organ donations, multi-organ donations (>3 organs), and donation of organs (heart, lung, and kidney) increased in the post-introduction period compared to that in the pre-introduction period. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest a beneficial role of a dedicated intensivist, not only in improving actual organ donation and discovering PBD donors, but also in affecting the yield of the heart and lung transplantation in actual organ donation compared to donors without a dedicated intensivist.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Flow chart depicting the study design
EMR – electronic medical record; KONOS – Korea Network for Organ Sharing.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Cumulative incidence of brain-dead (BD) donor and potential brain-dead (PBD) donor
Incidence presented as patients per 1000 discharges/year. BD – brain-dead; PBD – potential brain-dead.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Comparison of incidence rate before and after introduction of dedicated intensivist
Incidence presented as patients per 1000 discharges/year. BD – brain-dead; PBD – potential brain-dead

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