A potential organ donor is typically a mechanically ventilated patient in an ICU with brain death (donation after brain death or DBD) or cardiac death (donation after cardiac death or DCD). Nearly all heart donations are DBD and there has been very limited experience with DCD.Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina team transplanted heart using donation after cardiac death (DCD). The team used the Organ Care System (OCS) to perfuse the heart, which had stopped beating, with warm blood after it had been procured. The heart then remained on the OCS until it was transplanted into the recipient who was a military veteran with heart failure and ventricular arrhythmias.
Resuscitating organs is a key component in the evaluation and potential use of DCD. For hearts, this involves resuscitating and then excising a donor heart after cardiac arrest. Case series in Australia and England…
