Making History, Saving Lives: One OPOs Experience Making History by Being the First in the Nation to Successfully Allocate Seven Organs for Transplant from a Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) Donor
LifeShare Transplant Donors Services, Oklahoma City, OK
Meeting: 2020 American Transplant Congress
Abstract number: LB-028
Keywords: Donation, Donors, non-heart-beating, Heart preservation, Preservation
Session Information
Session Name: Poster Session C: Late Breaking
Session Type: Poster Session
Date: Saturday, May 30, 2020
Session Time: 3:15pm-4:00pm
Presentation Time: 3:30pm-4:00pm
Location: Virtual
*Purpose: At the time of this recovery, our OPO’s percentage of DCD donors was 41%. Continuing to maximize the gift successfully by increasing the percentage of DCD donors within our donation service area (DSA) has not only expanded the amount of available organs for transplant, but has set our OPO up to successfully allocate organs from non-traditional DCD donors, thoracic DCD donors, and DCD hearts. This is a comprehensive overview of the first seven organ DCD case successfully allocated for transplant in the United States.
*Methods: A review of our current OPO strategies and practices: many of which result in maximizing the gift through DCD donation. A retrospective case review of the 30-year-old, Caucasian, male DCD case from 12/11/2019.
*Results: In 2012, our OPO’s DCD rate was 11%. In 2019, the OPO’s DCD rate was 41%. During the same time, brain dead donors increased from 84 in 2012 to an average of 118 the last 3 years. On 12/11/2019, our OPO successfully allocated heart, bilateral lungs, liver, kidney-pancreas and kidney from a single DCD donor. This was the first DCD heart our OPO attempted to allocate, following the successful DCD heart transplant earlier in the month1. This was also the first seven organ DCD donor in the history of the United States, as confirmed by representatives with UNOS2.
*Conclusions: Following the arrival of a new CEO in 2012, the OPO made DCD growth a strategic focus, added new frontline leadership, implemented process modifications and cultural changes, and standardized hospital development and clinical infrastructure. By focusing on key areas, we have steadily increased our percentage of DCD cases while also increasing the average number of brain dead donors. After the success of the first DCD heart transplant, our OPO successfully allocation thoracic organs as well as abdominal organs from a single donor. This donor was 30, admitted after an injury resulting in a CVA, and was otherwise healthy. He expired eleven minutes post extubation with nineteen minutes total warm-ischemic time with seven organs successfully allocated and transplanted. According to UNET, all recipients are alive with functioning grafts as of 02/02/2019.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Nave JB, Boyer AJ, Hostetler CA, Muse CC, Squires RA, Orlowski JP. Making History, Saving Lives: One OPOs Experience Making History by Being the First in the Nation to Successfully Allocate Seven Organs for Transplant from a Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD) Donor [abstract]. Am J Transplant. 2020; 20 (suppl 3). https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/making-history-saving-lives-one-opos-experience-making-history-by-being-the-first-in-the-nation-to-successfully-allocate-seven-organs-for-transplant-from-a-donation-after-circulatory-death-dcd-don/. Accessed May 16, 2025.« Back to 2020 American Transplant Congress