Disparities in DCD organ procurement policy from a national OPO survey: A call for standardization.

INTRODUCTION: Procurement practices across organ procurement organizations (OPOs) for donation after cardiac death (DCD) transplants have not been evaluated. METHODS: A national telephone survey of all 58 OPOs inquiring about their procurement practices of DCD organs was conducted. Policies concerning maximum donor body mass index (BMI), location of care withdrawal, pre-mortem heparin administration, vasodilator use, wait times after declaration of death before incisions, inclinations between rapid laparotomy and pre-mortem cannulation, and maximum time before aborting DCD procurement were queried. RESULTS: The survey revealed substantial differences across OPOs. Donor BMI restriction was considered by 36 of 58 OPOs, and 23 sites preferred OR for donor withdrawal of care. Pre-mortem heparin was utilized by 53 OPOs. Only 2 recommended vasodilators. Minimum wait time of 5-minutes was implemented by 41 OPOs. Rapid laparotomy was preferred by 57 organizations. 28 OPOs had a 90-minute limit before aborting DCD procurement. CONCLUSION: There are substantial variations across OPO protocols for procuring DCD organs. Current practices do not conform to ASTS guidelines for DCD procurement. Further investigations are needed to quantify the impact of OPO policies on transplant outcomes.

Disparate Formulations for Machine Perfusion: A Survey of Organ Procurement Organizations' Medication Additives and Outcome Analyses.

OBJECTIVES: Machine perfusionfor kidney preservation is a common practice. There is no consensus on the best formula for perfusion solutions. We aimed to discern the additives that organ procurement organizations in the United States include in their perfusate and the impact of these additives on transplant outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A telephone survey of all 58 organ procurement organizations in the United States regarding additives to their perfusion solutions was conducted. The survey data were merged with transplant recipient outcome data from the United Network for Organ Sharing database.The final analysis included perfused kidneys between January 2014 and March 2019. Logistic regressions were performed to investigate whether a particular perfusion formula was associated with delayed graft function, primary nonfunction, or early graft failure. RESULTS: Additives correlated with decreased rates of graft failure were mannitol in all kidneys and kidneys of lower quality (P < .01) and penicillin/ampicillin in all kidneys (P < .05). Additives associated with increased graft failure regardless of type included verapamil in all kidneys (P < .05) and kidneys of lower quality (P < .01) and arginine with glutathione in all kidneys and low-quality kidneys alone (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Further outcomes research and standardized guidelines for additives in machine perfusion of kidneys across all organ procurement organizations are needed.