A More Than 20% Increase in Deceased-Donor Organ Procurement and Transplantation Activity After the Use of Donation After Circulatory Death

Background. Organ procurement and transplant activity from controlled donation after circulatory death (DCD) was evaluated over an 11-year period to determine whether this program influenced the transplant and donation after brain death (DBD) activities. Material and Methods. Deceased donor (DD) procurement and transplant data were prospectively collected in a local database for retrospective review. Results. There was an increasing trend in the potential and actual DCD numbers over time. DCD accounted for 21.9% of the DD pool over 11 years, representing 23.7% and 24.2% of the DD kidney and liver pool, respectively. The DBD retrieval and transplant activity increased during the same time period. Mean conversion rate turning potential into effective DCD donors was 47.3%. Mean DCD donor age was 54.6 years (range, 3-83). Donors >= 60 years old made up 44.1% of the DCD pool. Among referred donors, reasons for nondonation were medical contraindications (33.7%) and family refusals (19%). Mean organ yield per DCD donor was 2.3 organs. Mean total procurement warm ischemia time was 19.5 minutes (range, 6-39). In 2012, 17 DCD and 37 DBD procurements were performed in the Liege region, which has slightly >1 million inhabitants. Conclusions. This DCD program implementation enlarged the DD pool and did not compromise the development of DBD programs. The potential DCD pool might be underused and seems to be a valuable organ donor source.