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Review
. 2023 Jul 31:10:1225543.
doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1225543. eCollection 2023.

Dilemmas concerning heart procurement in controlled donation after circulatory death

S E Kaffka Genaamd Dengler  1 , M T Vervoorn  1 , M Brouwer  1 , J de Jonge  2 , N P van der Kaaij  1
Affiliations
Review

Dilemmas concerning heart procurement in controlled donation after circulatory death

S E Kaffka Genaamd Dengler et al. Front Cardiovasc Med. .

Abstract

With an expanding population at risk for heart failure and the resulting increase in patients admitted to the waiting list for heart transplantation, the demand of viable organs exceeds the supply of suitable donor hearts. Use of hearts after circulatory death has reduced this deficit. Two primary techniques for heart procurement in circulatory death donors have been described: direct procurement and perfusion and thoraco-abdominal normothermic regional perfusion. While the former has been accepted as an option for heart procurement in circulatory death donors, the latter technique has raised some ethical questions in relation to the dead donor rule. In this paper we discuss the current dilemmas regarding these heart procurement protocols in circulatory death donors.

Keywords: controlled donation after circulatory death heart transplantation; determination of death; ethics; ex-situ heart perfusion; thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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