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.