Successful cardiac transplantation with methanol or carbon monoxide-poisoned donors

Donor heart selection: Evidence-based guidelines for providers

The proposed donor heart selection guidelines provide evidence-based and expert-consensus recommendations for the selection of donor hearts following brain death. These recommendations were compiled by an international panel of experts based on an extensive literature review.

Transplant Outcomes From Deceased Donors Dying With Burns Injury, a Systematic Review

AIM

The ever-expanding organ supply and demand gap necessitates alternate sources of organ donors. Initially thought to be a contraindication, organ procurement from nonsurvivable burns patients is possibly an additional organ donor source. We aimed to conduct a systematic review investigating the prevalence and outcomes of the use of burn victims as a source of organ donation for transplantation.

METHODS

Medline and EMBASE were searched between 1990 and 2020, using the following keywords: organ procurement, organ donation, organ transplantation, and burns. Studies were not excluded based on patient numbers and included both published abstracts/conference proceeding and journal articles. Studies were excluded if specific organs were not identified or if posttransplant outcomes were not recorded. Primary and secondary outcomes of interest were post-transplantation organ function and complications respectively.

RESULTS

Six manuscripts met study inclusion criteria. Fourteen burns donors were identified, including both donation after circulatory death and donation after brain death pathways. The total body surface area of burn ranged from 4% to 90%. A total of 4 hearts, 2 lungs, 8 livers, 1 pancreas, and 24 kidneys were transplanted with varying duration of follow-up and outcomes.

CONCLUSION

A very small number of studies have reported the posttransplant outcomes of organs derived from victims of burn injury, including very limited information regarding graft function in the short or long term. Hence, recommendations for the utilization of organs from victims of burn injury should remain guarded and subject to surveillance.

Successful Liver Transplantation from a Deceased Donor After Ethylene Glycol Ingestion: A Case Report and Review of the Literature of Organ Donation from Poisoned Donors

Despite the increase in deceased organ donation over the past ten years, the gap between patients awaiting transplant and available organs continues to widen. Deceased donors secondary to acute fatal poisonings represent less than 1% of all organ donors. Organs from poisoned donors have largely been discarded due to concerns of toxin transmission and poor organ function as well as the paucity of data that exists regarding this donor population. Here, we report a case of a 40-year-old male who underwent successful liver re-transplantation from a donor who died following ethylene glycol ingestion. To our knowledge this case report is the first to describe successful re-transplantation from an ethylene glycol-poisoned donor. We also provide a comprehensive review of the literature describing organ donation from poisoned donors.

Case Report: Early Transplant Rejection of a Methanol-Intoxicated Donor Heart in a Young Female Patient. A Diagnostic Approach With CMR, Cardiac Biopsy, and Genetic Risk Assessment

This case report describes the contributions of multimodality imaging, cardiac biopsy, and genetic sequencing to the diagnosis and management of heart transplant rejection in a 23-year old patient with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Organ and tissue donation from poisoned patients in the emergency department: A Canadian emergency physician survey

OBJECTIVES

Screening for organ and tissue donation is an essential skill for emergency physicians. In 2015, 4,631 Canadians were on a waiting list for a transplant, and 262 died while waiting. Canada’s donation rates are less than half of comparable countries, so it is essential to explore strategies to improve the referral of donors. Poisoned patients may be one such underutilized source for donation. This study explores physician practices and perceptions regarding the referral of poisoned patients as donors.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional unidirectional survey, 1,471 physician members of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians were invited to participate. Physicians were presented with 20 scenarios and asked whether they would refer the patient as a potential organ or tissue donor. Results were reported descriptively, and associations between demographics and referral patterns were assessed.

RESULTS

Physicians totalling 208 participated in the organ or tissue donation scenarios (14.1%); 75% of scenarios involving poisoning were referred for organ or tissue donation, compared with 92% in a non-poisoning scenario. Poisons associated with lower referrals included sedatives, acetaminophen, chemical exposure, and organophosphates. A total of 175 physicians completed the demographic survey (11.9%). Characteristics associated with increased referrals included previous referral experience, donation training, donation support, >10 years of service, urban practice, emergency medicine certification, and male gender.

CONCLUSIONS

Scenarios involving poisoning were referred less often when compared with an ideal scenario. Because poisoning is not a contraindication for referral, this represents a potential source of donors. Targeted training and referral support may help improve donation rates in this demographic.

Can carbon monoxide-poisoned victims be organ donors?

The increasing demand for organ allografts to treat end-stage organ failure has driven changes in traditional donor criteria. Patients who have succumbed to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, a common cause of toxicological mortality, are usually rejected as organ donors. To fulfill the increasing demand, selection criteria must be expanded to include CO-poisoned donors. However, the use of allografts exposed to high CO concentrations is still under debate. Basic research and literature review data suggest that patients with brain death caused by CO poisoning should be considered appropriate organ donors. Accepting organs from CO-poisoned victims could increase the number of potential donors and lower the death rate of patients on the waiting lists. This review and reported cases may increase awareness among emergency department physicians, as well as transplant teams, that patients dying of CO exposure may be acceptable organ donors.

Successful Kidney Transplant from Methanol-Intoxicated Donors

The well-described disparity between the need for and the supply of organs suitable for transplant is growing. Because of this disparity, mortality of patients listed for transplant is increasing. Donors who die of intoxication (including victims of methanol poisoning) represent less than 1% of suitable donors and might be used to increase the supply of organs. They are often not accepted as donors by transplant specialists, because of concerns about patients' outcomes with these grafts. Three cases of fatal methanol intoxication that resulted in transplants of 6 kidneys are evaluated.

Use of carbon monoxide in minimizing ischemia/reperfusion injury in transplantation

Although carbon monoxide (CO) is known to be toxic because of its ability to interfere with oxygen delivery at high concentrations, mammalian cells endogenously generate CO primarily via the catalysis of heme by heme oxygenases. Recent findings have indicated that heme oxygenases and generation of CO serve as a key mechanism to maintain the integrity of the physiological function of organs and supported the development of a new paradigm that CO, at low concentrations, functions as a signaling molecule in the body and exerts significant cytoprotection. Consequently, exogenously delivered CO has been shown to mediate potent protection in various injury models through its anti-inflammatory, vasodilating, and antiapoptotic functions. Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury associated with organ transplantation is one of the major deleterious factors limiting the success of transplantation. Ischemia/reperfusion injury is a complex cascade of interconnected events involving cell damage, apoptosis, vigorous inflammatory responses, microcirculation disturbance, and thrombogenesis. Carbon monoxide has a great potential in minimizing I/R injury. This review will provide an overview of the basic physiology of CO, preclinical studies examining efficacy of CO in I/R injury models, and possible protective mechanisms. Carbon monoxide could be developed to be a valuable therapeutic molecule in minimizing I/R injury in transplantation.

Solid organ procurement from donors with carbon monoxide poisoning and/or burn--a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Traditionally, carbon monoxide poisoning and/or burn are considered contraindications to organ procurement. Previously reported cases have shown mixed results and many have been redundantly reported in the literature.

METHODS

We performed a systematic review of all reported cases of organ transplantation procured from donors with carbon monoxide poisoning and/or burn to investigate whether these patients are suitable donors for solid organ transplantations.

RESULTS

Organ survival rates of reported organs were high (86%). All organs procured from donors with carbon monoxide poisoning and burn survived during follow-up. Mean donors' peak carbon monoxide levels were comparable for organs surviving or failing during follow-up (31 ± 2.7 vs. 29 ± 26.8; p=0.95). Eighty-seven per cent of organs procured from donors supported with inotropes or vasopressors prior to organ procurement and 91% of organs procured from donors who were cardiopulmonary resuscitated prior to organ procurement survived during follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

Burn, carbon monoxide poisoning, high peak carbon monoxide-levels, use of inotropes or vasopressors or cardiopulmonary resuscitation prior to procurement are not contraindications for organ procurement and transplantation. New guidelines for burn units defining the special requirements for organ procurement from donors with carbon monoxide poisoning and/or burn are needed to raise the awareness for potential organ donors and to ultimately increase the donor pool and save patients' lives.

Successful bilateral lung transplantation from a methanol-poisoned donor

The shortage of suitable organ donors is an important limiting factor that is making the evaluation of marginal donors necessary and, consequently, allowing expansion of standard donor criteria for organ removal. Lung procurement after methanol poisoning is anecdotal; in fact, there is only one published case in literature and that case showed a successful outcome. In this report, we describe a case of lung donation from a previously healthy individual who died from methanol poisoning. Both lungs were successfully implanted to a 20-year-old man who suffered from cystic fibrosis. This case report is new evidence that lung transplantation from methanol-poisoned donors may be safely performed with a good outcome.

Prélèvements d’organes après intoxication

BACKGROUND

There is an increasing gap between the number of patients on the waiting list and the number of transplanted patients. In France, more than 10000 patients waited for an organ transplantation in 2002. Due to the graft shortage, "marginal" donors are now considered. The patients who present brain death after accidental or voluntary poisoning belong to this category.

EPIDEMIOLOGY

The data available from European or North American organ procurement organisations show that poisoned donors represent about 1% of all organ donors. It seems likely that a significant number of poisoned patients are not referred because poisoning is regarded as a contraindication to organ donation. When organ procurement can be achieved, the results expressed as recipient survival or graft survival are quite encouraging.

TOXIC PRODUCTS

The most frequently involved toxins are either drugs (psychotropic agents, analgesics...), illicit substances, or environmental agents (gases, alcohols...). The literature data are discussed; some issues remain controversial.

PRACTICAL APPROACH

Several criteria have to be applied when poisoned patients are considered as potential organ donors. Besides a firm diagnosis of "brain death", the knowledge of the "target organs" of poisoning is of paramount importance, together with careful analysis of the toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics. In most cases, routine biological and morphological data are sufficient to assess graft function.

Elevated donor cardiac troponin T and procalcitonin indicate two independent mechanisms of early graft failure after heart transplantation

BACKGROUND

Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) >0.1 microg/l and procalcitonin (PCT) >2 microg/l in the serum of heart donors are predictors of early graft failure after heart transplantation (HTx). The current study investigates the relationship between these two markers and their prognostic value when one or both of them are elevated.

METHODS

Cardiac TnT and PCT were measured in serum from 92 consecutive brain-dead donors accepted for HTx. The donors were retrospectively divided into two groups: group I (n=78) donors of hearts with good function, group II (n=14) donors of hearts with early graft failure after transplantation.

RESULTS

There were no correlations between cTnT and PCT values (r=0.12, P=0.27). In eight donors in group I one or both markers were elevated. In one donor both markers were above the cut-off levels. In 12 donors (86%) in group II one or both markers were elevated. In two donors both markers were above the cut-off levels and in a further two below. There was no significant interaction between the two markers in either group using a logistic regression model (P=0.28).

CONCLUSIONS

Elevated cTnT and PCT levels in the serum of heart donors were independent prognostic markers of early graft failure. This fact may suggest two different mechanisms of early graft failure: primary myocardial damage and damage related to systemic inflammatory response. The combination of both markers had a higher sensitivity than each parameter on its own. Their use as additional parameters may improve heart donor selection.

Poisoned patients as potential organ donors: postal survey of transplant centres and intensive care units

BACKGROUND

The number of patients awaiting allograft transplantation in the UK exceeds the number of organs offered for transplantation each year. Most organ donors tend to be young, fit and healthy individuals who die because of trauma or sudden cardiac arrest. Patients who die from drug and poison intoxication tend to have similar characteristics but are less frequently offered as potential organ donors.

METHODS

A postal questionnaire survey of all transplantation centres and an equal number of intensive care units in the UK was undertaken. The use of kidney, heart, lung, liver and pancreas transplants from poisoned patients following deliberate methanol ingestion, cardiac arrest presumed secondary to cocaine overdose, accidental domestic carbon monoxide inhalation and industrial cyanide exposure were used as case scenarios.

RESULTS

Response rates were 70% for transplantation centres and 50% for intensive care unit directors. Over 80% of organs would be offered or discussed with transplant coordinators by intensive care unit directors. Transplantation physicians/surgeons would consider transplanting organs in up to 100% of case scenarios, depending on the organ and poisoning or intoxication involved.

DISCUSSION

The postal survey presented here shows that most transplantation physicians and surgeons and intensive care unit directors would consider those who die following acute drug intoxication and poisoning as potential organ donors. The previously reported literature shows in general that transplanted organs from poisoned patients have good long-term survival, although the number of reports is small. Poisoned patients are another pool of organ donors who at present are probably underused by transplantation services.