Background: OPO performance is generally evaluated by the number of organ procurement procedures divided by the number of eligible deaths(brain dead donors under age 70), while the number of non-eligible deaths(including: donation after cardiac death donors and brain dead donors over the age of 70) is not explicitly tracked. The present study aimed to investigate the variability in the proportion of non-eligible liver donors by the 58 DSAs.

Methods: Patients undergoing LT between 2011-2015 were obtained from the UNOS STAR file. LT were compared between those coming from non-eligible and eligible donors.

Results: The proportion of non-eligible liver donors by DSA varied significantly ranging from 0%-19.6% of total liver allografts used. When transplant programs were investigated, the proportion of non-eligible liver donors used ranged from 0%-35.3%. On linear regression there was no correlation between match MELD score for programs in a given DSA and proportion of non-eligible donors used from the corresponding DSA(p=0.14).

Conclusion: The utilization of non-eligible donors remains an underutilized resource in many OPOs. Both policy changes to begin tracking of non-eligible donors as well as learning from OPOs that have high non-eligible donor usage can be potential strategies to increase awareness and pursuit of these organs.

CITATION INFORMATION: Croome K, Lee D, Keaveny A, Taner C. Greater Emphasis on Non-Eligible Donors as a Strategy to Decrease the Organ Shortage. Am J Transplant. 2017;17 (suppl 3).

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