Maximizing the Gift: One OPO’s Experience Maximizing the Gift of Organ Donation by Successfully Increasing the Number of Organs Transplanted from Non-Braindead Donors
LifeShare Transplant Donor Services of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK
Meeting: 2020 American Transplant Congress
Abstract number: A-232
Keywords: Cadaveric organs, Donation, Donors, non-heart-beating, Procurement
Session Information
Session Name: Poster Session A: Deceased Donor Management and Intervention Research
Session Type: Poster Session
Date: Saturday, May 30, 2020
Session Time: 3:15pm-4:00pm
Presentation Time: 3:30pm-4:00pm
Location: Virtual
*Purpose: In 2018 in the United States, donation after circulatory death (DCD) cases accounted for 20% of deceased organ donor recoveries1. Our organ procurement organization’s (OPO) current DCD rate is 41%. To explain this, we looked at how organizational focus and enhancements to the DCD process led to increased transplants from DCD donors.
*Methods: A retrospective review of DCD cases from 2012-2019 was performed. Data on numbers of recovered donors by type and consented not recovered donors (CNR) were analyzed.
*Results: In 2012, our OPO’s DCD rate was 11%. In 2019, the OPO’s DCD rate is 41%. During the same time, brain dead donors increased from 84 in 2012 to an average of 118 the last 3 years.
| CNR- DCD | Donors | DCD Donors | % DCD Donors | % of cases that are DCD that do not expire | |
| 2012 | 5 | 94 | 10 | 11% | 5% |
| 2013 | 4 | 89 | 18 | 20% | 4% |
| 2014 | 11 | 141 | 23 | 16% | 7% |
| 2015 | 22 | 174 | 42 | 24% | 11% |
| 2016 | 39 | 180 | 64 | 36% | 17% |
| 2017 | 53 | 183 | 67 | 37% | 21% |
| 2018 | 48 | 188 | 57 | 30% | 19% |
| 2019 as of 12/3/2019 | 35 | 180 | 73 | 41% | 14% |
*Conclusions: Following the arrival of a new CEO in 2012, the OPO made DCD growth a strategic focus, added new front-line leadership, implemented process modifications and cultural changes, and standardized hospital development and clinical infrastructure. One key was to evaluate DCD potential donors and pursue clinically suitable DCD opportunities based on registration status and family wishes rather than likelihood of passing in the prescribed time-frame as well as acting on first person authorization in DCD cases. We have steadily increased our percentage of DCD cases while also increasing the average number of brain dead donors. The percentage of attempted DCD cases that do not expire in the prescribed time-frame has increased but remains at a manageable level. We conclude our OPO’s DCD percentage increases directly correlate with strategic focus and implementation of standardized practices, and have not negatively impacted BD donors.
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1.National Data Report of the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network and the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients: National Data. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Healthcare Systems Bureau, Division of Transplantation, Rockville, MD; United Network for Organ Sharing, Richmond, VA; University Renal Research and Education Association, Ann Arbor, MI.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Nave JB, Boyer AJ, Hostetler CA, Muse CC, Squires RA, Orlowski JP. Maximizing the Gift: One OPO’s Experience Maximizing the Gift of Organ Donation by Successfully Increasing the Number of Organs Transplanted from Non-Braindead Donors [abstract]. Am J Transplant. 2020; 20 (suppl 3). https://atcmeetingabstracts.com/abstract/maximizing-the-gift-one-opos-experience-maximizing-the-gift-of-organ-donation-by-successfully-increasing-the-number-of-organs-transplanted-from-non-braindead-donors/. Accessed May 16, 2025.« Back to 2020 American Transplant Congress