Stepwise development and expansion of an abdominal normothermic regional perfusion program for donation after circulatory determination of death organ procurement

• Published in: Clinical transplantation 2024-04, Vol.38 (4), p.e15297-n/a
• Main Authors: Wall, Anji, Arunachalam, Priya, Martinez, Eric, Ruiz, Richard, Fernandez, Hoylan, Bayer, Johanna, Gupta, Amar, McKenna, Gregory J, Lee, Seung‐Hee, Adams, Bradley, Butler, Douglas, Noesges, Scott, Duncan, Michael, Rayle, Murphy, Monday, Kara, Schwartz, Gary, Testa, Giuliano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Death; donors and donation: donation after circulatory death (DCD); Graft Survival; Humans; organ perfusion and preservation; Organ Preservation - methods; organ procurement; Perfusion - methods; Tissue and Organ Procurement; Tissue Donors
• ISSN: 0902-0063; 1399-0012
• DOI: 10.1111/ctr.15297

Introduction Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) represents an innovative technology that improves the outcomes for liver and kidney recipients of donation after circulatory determination of death (DCD) organs but protocols for abdominal‐only NRP (A‐NRP) DCD are lacking in the US. Methods We describe the implementation and expansion strategies of a transplant‐center‐based A‐NRP DCD program that has grown in volume, geographical reach, and donor acceptance parameters, presented as four eras. Results In the implementation era, two donors were attempted, and one liver graft was transplanted. In the local expansion era, 33% of attempted donors resulted in transplantation and 42% of liver grafts from donors who died within the functional warm ischemic time (fWIT) limit were transplanted. In the Regional Expansion era, 25% of attempted donors resulted in transplantation and 50% of liver grafts from donors who died within the fWIT limit were transplanted. In the Donor Acceptance Expansion era, 46% of attempted donors resulted in transplantation and 72% of liver grafts from donors who died within the fWIT limit were transplanted. Eight discarded grafts demonstrated a potential opportunity for utilization. Conclusion The stepwise approach to building an A‐NRP program described here can serve as a model for other transplant centers.