Key result
Donation after circulatory death (DCD) presents a promising approach to expand the donor pool for heart transplantation, with short and intermediate outcomes matching those of donation after brain death.
Why the study?
Despite increasing heart transplant volume worldwide, long-term outcomes, best practices, and standardization for heart transplantation using donation after circulatory death remain to be defined.
Expanding heart donation after circulatory death offers a viable solution to the donor shortage, though it requires significant resource allocation and standardization of procurement protocols.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
DCD heart transplantation expands donor access; leaves open long-term outcomes and optimal practices.
Donation after circulatory death (DCD) presents both opportunities and challenges in the realm of heart transplantation. Its emergence holds promise for narrowing the gap between patients in need of organs and the available donor pool. The rapid emergence of DCD use has allowed heart transplant volume to increase worldwide. Long-term outcomes and best practices remain to be defined and are important considerations in the wider use of these techniques in a broad selection of patients to understand best use and practice moving forward. Expanding DCD donation entails substantial resource allocation, coordination efforts, and training initiatives. Moving forward, standardization is imperative, particularly in aspects such as "stand-off" time, warm ischemic time (WIT), and perfusate composition.
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Rajah et al. (2024) conducted a review in End-stage heart failure requiring heart transplantation. Donation after circulatory death (DCD) vs. Donation after brain death (DBD) was evaluated. Donation after circulatory death (DCD) presents a promising approach to expand the donor pool for heart transplantation, with short and intermediate outcomes matching those of donation after brain death.
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