Development of a Successful Non—Heart-Beating Organ Donation Program

Abstract

To help alleviate the organ shortage, transplant centers are using organs from expanded-criteria donors, who were considered unsuitable just a few years ago, such as Non—Heart-beating donors. In 1998, we made a concerted effort to increase the number of Non—Heart-beating donors recovered by our organ procurement organization. In this paper, we discuss the steps in establishing this program, including transplant center support, estimating the number of potential Non—Heart-beating donors, organ procurement support, protocol development, hospital development, education, putting the protocol into practice, follow-up, and effect of the program on organ procurement. With the establishment of this program, the number of Non—Heart-beating donors increased from 2% to 5% per year to over 10% for the past 2 years. From these donors, 61 of 82 recovered kidneys were transplanted into 58 patients, and 18 of 20 recovered livers were transplanted. A Non—Heart-beating donor program can significantly add to the number of organ transplants and successful transplantations.