Design and implementation of the European-Mediterranean Postgraduate Programme on Organ Donation and Transplantation (EMPODaT) for Middle East/North Africa countries.

This prospective study reports the design and results obtained after the EMPODaT project implementation. This project was funded by the Tempus programme of the European Commission with the objective to implement a common postgraduate programme on organ donation and transplantation (ODT) in six selected universities from Middle East/North Africa (MENA) countries (Egypt, Lebanon and Morocco). The consortium, coordinated by the University of Barcelona, included universities from Spain, Germany, Sweden and France.

Confirmation of brain death diagnosis: A study on French practice.

Introduction: In France, brain death diagnosis is regulated by law and mandates the use of confirmatory tests (electroencephalogram or angiography). No data are available on this practice and the possible influence of medical history.

Study Design: National survey using an e-mail questionnaire after phone agreement.

Effect of N-acetylcysteine pretreatment of deceased organ donors on renal allograft function: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Antioxidant donor pretreatment is one of the pharmacologic strategy proposed to prevent renal ischemia-reperfusion injuries and delayed graft function (DGF). The aim of the study was to investigate whether a donor pretreatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) reduces the incidence of DGF in adult human kidney transplant recipients.

Methods: In this randomized, open-label, monocenter trial, 160 deceased heart-beating donors were allowed to perform 236 renal transplantations from September 2005 to December 2010.

Transcranial Doppler shortens the time between clinical brain death and angiographic confirmation: a randomized trial.

Background: Brain death diagnosis relies on clinical signs, but confirmatory tests are legally mandatory in some countries. In France, transcranial Doppler (TCD) is not recognized as a legal test to confirm brain death. Nevertheless, experts recommend its use to determine the need for a legal confirmatory test.

Quality assessment in surgical care departments: proposal for a scoring system in terms of structure and process.

Objective: To build a score able to reflect and rank surgical departments according to a definition of "quality" in terms of structure and process.

Methods: Collaborative design of a quality score in the framework of the French clinical research project NosoQual. Feasibility and observational study in 46 surgical departments visited between November 2002 and March 2003 according to standardised procedures.