Normothermic regional perfusion surgical technique for the procurement of cardiac donors after circulatory death

Donation after circulatory death (DCD) has been used outside of the United States to expand the cardiac donor pool with good results. Currently, recovery methods include the use of the Organ Care System (OCS; TransMedics) or normothermic regional perfusion (NRP).1-3 Here, we describe The University of Wisconsin (UW) methodology of DCD organ selection, surgical technique, intraoperative graft evaluation, and ultimate procurement of a DCD heart using NRP. Our technique demonstrates the capacity to procure DCD hearts from distant centers using NRP and cold static storage in a reliable fashion.