Does cardiopulmonary resuscitation before donor death affect solid organ transplant function? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Patients who die after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are an important source of solid organs, but ischaemia-reperfusion injury may lead to worse recipient outcomes. This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed if solid organs transplanted from donors who underwent CPR had worse outcomes compared to organs from donors who did not receive CPR.

Methods: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched until January 1, 2025. The primary outcome (graft survival at the longest follow-up) and secondary outcomes (30-day and 1-year graft survival) were calculated separately for each organ and pathway (brain/circulatory death).

Results: We included 33 studies (26 in adults; 72,994 donors), of which three compared multiple organs and pathways. In 24 studies comparing brain-dead donors with vs without CPR in all organs, outcomes did not differ between groups. In nine studies, donation after uncontrolled circulatory death compared to donation after brain death showed a lower long-term survival for livers (OR 0.51 [0.32-0.83]) and lower short-term but not long-term survival (OR 0.64[0.36-1.15]) for kidneys. Two studies in kidneys compared donation in controlled vs uncontrolled circulatory death showing no different long-term survival (OR 0.73[0.27-1.99]).

Conclusions: Organs transplanted from donors who received CPR demonstrated comparable outcomes at the longest follow-up compared to organs from donors who did not receive CPR. Kidneys and livers after uncontrolled donation after circulatory death showed worse outcomes compared to donation after brain death.

Keywords: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; Organ Donation; Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest.