Organ Utilization From Deceased (Non-Herat-Beating) Donors

Defining death in non-heart beating organ donors.

Protocols for retrieving vital organs in consenting patients in cardiovascular arrest (non-heart beating donors, NHBD) rest on the assumptions that irreversible asystole a) identifies the instant of biological death, and b) is clinically assessable at the time when retrieval of vital organs is possible. Unfortunately both assumptions are flawed. We argue that traditional life/death definitions ...

Ethical Guidelines for Organ Transplantation from Deceased Donors.

Non-heart beating donors.

BACKGROUND Several groups have demonstrated that non-heart beating donation is a viable source of organs for transplantation. However, the theoretically worse graft function and survival of the kidneys obtained from non-heart beating donors (NHBDs) is still a matter of debate that has led to consider them as marginal donors for kidney transplantation. METHODS In this report, we compare the ou...

Organ transplantation from deceased donors with cancer: is it safe?

Correspondence: Michael A Nalesnik Division of Transplantation and Hepatic Pathology, Room E738, UPMC Montefiore Hospital, 3459 5th Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA Tel +1 412 647 2094 Fax +1 412 0647 5237 email [email protected] Abstract: The availability of donor organs continues to be insufficient to meet the needs of patients actively waiting for transplant. Consequently, there is contin...

Retrieving organs from non-heart-beating organ donors: a review of medical and ethical issues.

PURPOSE The increasing gap between numbers of individuals awaiting organ replacement surgery and the supply of organs available for transplant underpins attempts to increase the number of organs available. One practice, used in other countries, is the recovery of organs from non-heart-beating organ donors (NHBD). The purpose of this review is to discuss ethical issues surrounding the use of org...