Causes of Deceased Donors Loss before Organ Retrieval.

Background: When potential brain dead donors are in line-up for organ retrieval, their loss would be such a disaster. The aim of this study was to detect the occurrence of different disorders leading to pre-retrieval donor's cardiac arrest and loss in order to prevent this energy and money wasting challenge.

Materials And Methods: In this observational study, medical records of potential donors from 2001 to 2016 who were lost after transfer to Organ Procurement Unit (OPU) of Masih Daneshvari Hospital and before organ donation were reviewed and weigh of every responsible disorder was tested.

Role of Methylprednisolone in the Management of Hemodynamically Unstable Brain-Dead Cases.

Objectives: Optimal care of potential donors can lead to successful transplantation. Hemodynamic instability is a common complication in deceased potential donors. The most common underlying causes are hormonal and electrolyte disturbances as well as a hyperinflammatory state, which is rooted in activation of the cytokine cascade.

Liver Donation From Marginal Donors: To Donate or Not to Donate?

Objectives: Livers from deceased donors compose nearly 30% of all organ transplants, and about 700 liver transplants are carried out per year. Marginal livers (extended-criteria donors), however, are not usually accepted by recipient teams, and there is only one center for these procedures in Iran. The final decision is made according to criteria that are much more conservative than other globally accepted ones.

Demographic Differences Between Two 7-Year Periods of Organ Donation in Iran: A Single-Center Experience.

Objectives: Donor characteristics can directly affect transplant outcomes. In this study, we examined donor patterns in an organ procurement unit, which covered one-third of the population in Tehran, Iran over the past 12 years (2005 to 2018).

Materials And Methods: Demographic data of donors, including sex, age, cause of death, blood group, outcome of donation, number of organs per donor, and comorbidities (including diabetes mellitus and hypertension), were assessed.

Reasons for Donor Lungs Unsuitability After Radiographic Selection.

Objectives: Deceased lung donation requires optimum donor care, with lung viability greatly affected by the progress of the disease leading to brain death. In this study, we searched for causes of lung unsuitability for transplant in both primary and secondary evaluations.

Materials And Methods: Primary lung evaluations included chest radiography, oxygen challenge test, and donor clinical and history examination.

Consequences of More Coordinator Engagement to Take Consent for Organ Donation: Comparisons of New Versus Experienced Staff.

Objectives: The method of obtaining family consent for organ donation after occurrence of brain death in Iran is an opt-in process. Because of complicated cultural, legal, religious, and familial structures in Iran, it is not simple to take consent for organ donation in brain death situations. The process needs the professional staff to be experienced and have an appropriate personality to obtain consent.

Pathology Results at Autopsy in Brain-Dead Patients with Brain Tumors.

Objectives: Brain tumors are the most challenging causes of brain deaths due to the lack of pathology results in many cases. It is not uncommon to find a brain tumor in a brain-dead patient with no pathology results or neuroradiology reports available; this would exclude the deceased from organ donation. The mortality that occurs while patients are on transplant wait lists motivated us to find a solution to prevent losing brain-dead patients as potential donors.

Role of More Active Identification of Brain-Dead Cases in Increasing Organ Donation.

Objectives: Organ donor shortage is a worldwide problem, resulting in 10% to 30% mortality rates for patients on wait lists for organ transplant. For brain-dead patients in Iran, it is mandatory for intensive care unit patients with Glasgow Coma Scale below 5/15 to be reported to an organ procurement unit. However, this process has not been functioning effectively.