Effects of donor pre-treatment with dopamine on survival after heart transplantation: a cohort study of heart transplant recipients nested in a randomized controlled multicenter trial.

Objectives: We determined the outcome of cardiac allografts from multiorgan donors enrolled in a randomized trial of donor pre-treatment with dopamine.

Background: Treatment of the brain-dead donor with low-dose dopamine improves immediate graft function after kidney transplantation.

Methods: A cohort study of 93 heart transplants from 21 European centers was undertaken between March 2004 and August 2007.