Does the use of double hormone replacement therapy for trauma patient organ donors improve organ recovery for transplant.

Background: With an ongoing demand for transplantable organs, optimization of donor management protocols, specifically in trauma populations, is important for obtaining a high yield of viable organs per patient. Endocrine management of brain-dead potential organ donors (BPODs) is controversial, leading to heterogeneous clinical management approaches. Previous studies have shown that when levothyroxine was combined with other treatments, including steroids, vasopressin, and insulin, BPODs had better organ recovery and survival outcomes were increased for transplant recipients.

Aim: To determine if levothyroxine use in combination with steroids in BPODs increased the number of organs donated in trauma patients.

Methods: A retrospective review of adult BPODs from a single level 1 trauma center over ten years was performed. Exclusion criteria included patients who were not solid organ donors, patients who were not declared brain dead (donation after circulatory death), and patients who did not receive steroids in their hospital course. Levothyroxine and steroid administration, the number of organs donated, the types of organs donated, and demographic information were recorded. Univariate analyses were performed with < 0.05 considered to be statistically significant.

Results: A total of 88 patients met inclusion criteria, 69 (78%) of whom received levothyroxine and steroids (ST/LT group) 19 (22%) receiving steroids without levothyroxine (ST group). No differences were observed between the groups for gender, race, pertinent injury factors, age, or other hormone therapies used ( > 0.05). In the ST/LT group, 68.1% ( = 47) donated a high yield (3-5) of organ types per donor compared to 42.1% ( = 8) in the ST group ( = 0.038). There was no difference in the total number of organ types donated between the groups ( = 0.068).

Conclusion: This study suggests that combining levothyroxine and steroid administration increases high-yield organ donation per donor in BPODs in the trauma patient population. Limitations to this study include the retrospective design and the relatively small number of organ donors who met inclusion criteria. This study is unique in that it mitigates steroid administration as a confounding variable and focuses specifically on the adjunctive use of levothyroxine.