1
|
Murphy NB, Slessarev M, Basmaji J, Blackstock L, Blaszak M, Brahmania M, Chandler JA, Dhanani S, Gaulton M, Gross JA, Healey A, Lingard L, Ott M, Shemie SD, Weijer C. Ethical Issues in Normothermic Regional Perfusion in Controlled Organ Donation After Determination of Death by Circulatory Criteria: A Scoping Review. Transplantation 2024:00007890-990000000-00854. [PMID: 39192464 DOI: 10.1097/tp.0000000000005161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/29/2024]
Abstract
Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) is a surgical technique that can improve the quality and number of organs recovered for donation after the determination of death by circulatory criteria. Despite its promise, adoption of NRP has been hindered because of unresolved ethical issues. To inform stakeholders, this scoping review provides an impartial overview of the major ethical controversies surrounding NRP. We undertook this review according to a modified 5-step methodology proposed by Arksey and O'Malley. Publications were retrieved through MEDLINE and Embase. Gray literature was sourced from Canadian organ donation organizations, English-language organ donation organization websites, and through our research networks. Three reviewers independently screened all documents for inclusion, extracted data, and participated in content analysis. Disagreements were resolved through consensus meetings. Seventy-one documents substantively engaging with ethical issues in NRP were included for full-text analysis. We identified 6 major themes encompassing a range of overlapping ethical debates: (1) the compatibility of NRP with the dead donor rule, the injunction that organ recovery cannot cause death, (2) the risk of donor harm posed by NRP, (3) uncertainties regarding consent requirements for NRP, (4) risks to stakeholder trust posed by NRP, (5) the implications of NRP for justice, and (6) NRP's potential to benefits of NRP for stakeholders. We found no agreement on the ethical permissibility of NRP. However, some debates may be resolved through additional empirical study. As decision-makers contemplate the adoption of NRP, it is critical to address the ethical issues facing the technique to ensure stakeholder trust in deceased donation and transplantation systems is preserved.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas B Murphy
- Department of Medicine and Philosophy, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Marat Slessarev
- Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, Edmonton, AB, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - John Basmaji
- Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, Edmonton, AB, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Laurie Blackstock
- Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, Edmonton, AB, Canada
- Donor family partner, Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Michael Blaszak
- Department of Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Mayur Brahmania
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | | | - Sonny Dhanani
- Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, Edmonton, AB, Canada
- Pediatric Intensive Care, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Matthew Gaulton
- University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law, London, ON, Canada
| | - Jed A Gross
- Department of Clinical and Organizational Ethics, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Andrew Healey
- Ontario Health (Trillium Gift of Life Network), Toronto, ON, Canada
- Divisions of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Lorelei Lingard
- Department of Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Centre for Education Research and Innovation, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Mary Ott
- Centre for Education Research and Innovation, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Faculty of Education, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Sam D Shemie
- Division of Critical Care Medicine, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- System Development, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Charles Weijer
- Department of Medicine and Philosophy, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, Edmonton, AB, Canada
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Lizza JP, Lazaridis C, Nowak PG. Defining Death: Toward a Biological and Ethical Synthesis. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS : AJOB 2024:1-12. [PMID: 39018166 DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2024.2371124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/19/2024]
Abstract
Much of the debate over the definition and criteria for determining our death has focused on disagreement over the correct biological account of death, i.e., what it means for any organism to die. In this paper, we argue that this exclusive focus on the biology of death is misguided, because it ignores ethical and social factors that bear on the acceptability of criteria for determining our death. We propose that attention shift from strictly biological considerations to ethical and social considerations that bear on the determination of what we call "civil death." We argue for acceptance of a neurological criterion for determining death on grounds that it is the most reasonable way to synthesize biological, ethical, and social considerations about our death..
Collapse
|
3
|
Truog RD, Doernberg SN. In Defense of Normothermic Regional Perfusion. Hastings Cent Rep 2024; 54:24-31. [PMID: 39116163 DOI: 10.1002/hast.4905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/10/2024]
Abstract
Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) is a relatively new approach to procuring organs for transplantation. After circulatory death is declared, perfusion is restored to either the thoracoabdominal organs (in TA-NRP) or abdominal organs alone (in A-NRP) using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Simultaneously, surgeons clamp the cerebral arteries, causing a fatal brain injury. Critics claim that clamping the arteries is the proximate cause of death in violation of the dead donor rule and that the procedure is therefore unethical. We disagree. This account does not consider the myriad other factors that contribute to the death of the donor, including the presence of a fatal medical condition, the decision to withdraw life support, and the physician's actions in withdrawing life support and administering medication that may hasten death. Instead, we claim that physicians play a causative role in many of the events that lead to a patient's death and that these actions are often ethically and legally justified. We advance an "all things considered" view according to which TA-NRP may be considered ethically acceptable insofar as it avoids suffering and respects the wishes of the patient to improve the lives of others through organ donation. We conclude with a series of critical questions related to the practice of NRP and call for the development of national consensus on this issue in the United States.
Collapse
|
4
|
Rajsic S, Treml B, Innerhofer N, Eckhardt C, Radovanovic Spurnic A, Breitkopf R. Organ Donation from Patients Receiving Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: A Systematic Review. J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth 2024; 38:1531-1538. [PMID: 38643059 DOI: 10.1053/j.jvca.2024.03.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2023] [Revised: 03/01/2024] [Accepted: 03/17/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The mismatch between the demand for and supply of organs for transplantation is steadily growing. Various strategies have been incorporated to improve the availability of organs, including organ use from patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) at the time of death. However, there is no systematic evidence of the outcome of grafts from these donors. DESIGN Systematic literature review (Scopus and PubMed, up to October 11, 2023). SETTING All study designs. PARTICIPANTS Organ recipients from patients on ECMO at the time of death. INTERVENTION Outcome of organ donation from ECMO donors. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS The search yielded 1,692 publications, with 20 studies ultimately included, comprising 147 donors and 360 organ donations. The most frequently donated organs were kidneys (68%, 244/360), followed by liver (24%, 85/360). In total, 98% (292/299) of recipients survived with a preserved graft function (92%, 319/347) until follow-up within a variable period of up to 3 years. CONCLUSION Organ transplantation from donors supported with ECMO at the time of death shows high graft and recipient survival. ECMO could be a suitable approach for expanding the donor pool, helping to alleviate the worldwide organ shortage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sasa Rajsic
- Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
| | - Benedikt Treml
- Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Nicole Innerhofer
- Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Christine Eckhardt
- Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | | | - Robert Breitkopf
- Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Omelianchuk A, Capron AM, Ross LF, Derse AR, Bernat JL, Magnus D. Neither Ethical nor Prudent: Why Not to Choose Normothermic Regional Perfusion. Hastings Cent Rep 2024; 54:14-23. [PMID: 38768312 DOI: 10.1002/hast.1584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
In transplant medicine, the use of normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) in donation after circulatory determination of death raises ethical difficulties. NRP is objectionable because it restores the donor's circulation, thus invalidating a death declaration based on the permanent cessation of circulation. NRP's defenders respond with arguments that are tortuous and factually inaccurate and depend on introducing extraneous concepts into the law. However, results comparable to NRP's-more and higher-quality organs and more efficient allocation-can be achieved by removing organs from deceased donors and using normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) to support the organs outside the body, without jeopardizing confidence in transplantation's legal and ethical foundations. Given the controversy that NRP generates and the convoluted justifications made for it, we recommend a prudential approach we call "ethical parsimony," which holds that, in the choice between competing means of achieving a result, the ethically simpler one is to be preferred. This approach makes clear that policy-makers should favor NMP over NRP.
Collapse
|
6
|
Kirschen MP, Lewis A, Rubin MA, Varelas PN, Greer DM. Beyond the Final Heartbeat: Neurological Perspectives on Normothermic Regional Perfusion for Organ Donation after Circulatory Death. Ann Neurol 2024; 95:1035-1039. [PMID: 38501716 DOI: 10.1002/ana.26926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2024] [Revised: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 03/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) has recently been used to augment organ donation after circulatory death (DCD) to improve the quantity and quality of transplantable organs. In DCD-NRP, after withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies and cardiopulmonary arrest, patients are cannulated onto extracorporeal membrane oxygenation to reestablish blood flow to targeted organs including the heart. During this process, aortic arch vessels are ligated to restrict cerebral blood flow. We review ethical challenges including whether the brain is sufficiently reperfused through collateral circulation to allow reemergence of consciousness or pain perception, whether resumption of cardiac activity nullifies the patient's prior death determination, and whether specific authorization for DCD-NRP is required. ANN NEUROL 2024;95:1035-1039.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew P Kirschen
- Departments of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Neurology, and Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Ariane Lewis
- Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, New York University, Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Michael A Rubin
- Department of Neurology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | | | - David M Greer
- Department of Neurology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Bernat JL, Khush KK, Shemie SD, Hartwig MG, Reese PP, Dalle Ave A, Parent B, Glazier AK, Capron AM, Craig M, Gofton T, Gordon EJ, Healey A, Homan ME, Ladin K, Messer S, Murphy N, Nakagawa TA, Parker WF, Pentz RD, Rodríguez-Arias D, Schwartz B, Sulmasy DP, Truog RD, Wall AE, Wall SP, Wolpe PR, Fenton KN. Knowledge gaps in heart and lung donation after the circulatory determination of death: Report of a workshop of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. J Heart Lung Transplant 2024; 43:1021-1029. [PMID: 38432523 PMCID: PMC11132427 DOI: 10.1016/j.healun.2024.02.1455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2024] [Revised: 02/07/2024] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024] Open
Abstract
In a workshop sponsored by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, experts identified current knowledge gaps and research opportunities in the scientific, conceptual, and ethical understanding of organ donation after the circulatory determination of death and its technologies. To minimize organ injury from warm ischemia and produce better recipient outcomes, innovative techniques to perfuse and oxygenate organs postmortem in situ, such as thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion, are being implemented in several medical centers in the US and elsewhere. These technologies have improved organ outcomes but have raised ethical and legal questions. Re-establishing donor circulation postmortem can be viewed as invalidating the condition of permanent cessation of circulation on which the earlier death determination was made and clamping arch vessels to exclude brain circulation can be viewed as inducing brain death. Alternatively, TA-NRP can be viewed as localized in-situ organ perfusion, not whole-body resuscitation, that does not invalidate death determination. Further scientific, conceptual, and ethical studies, such as those identified in this workshop, can inform and help resolve controversies raised by this practice.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- James L Bernat
- Department of Neurology, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, New Hampshire.
| | - Kiran K Khush
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
| | - Sam D Shemie
- Division of Critical Care Medicine, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, PQ, Canada
| | - Matthew G Hartwig
- Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Duke University Health System, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Peter P Reese
- Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Anne Dalle Ave
- Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia
| | - Brendan Parent
- Division of Medical Ethics and Department of Surgery, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York
| | - Alexandra K Glazier
- Brown University, School of Public Health, Providence, Rhode Island; New England Donor Services, Waltham, Massachusetts
| | - Alexander M Capron
- Gould School of Law and Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Matt Craig
- Lung Biology and Disease Branch, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Teneille Gofton
- Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Elisa J Gordon
- Department of Surgery, Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Andrew Healey
- Department of Medicine McMaster University and William Osler Health System, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Keren Ladin
- Research on Ethics, Aging, and Community Health (REACH Lab); Departments of Occupational Therapy and Community Health, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts
| | - Simon Messer
- Department of Transplant, Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Clydebank, Scotland UK
| | - Nick Murphy
- Departments of Medicine and Philosophy, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Thomas A Nakagawa
- University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Jacksonville, Florida
| | - William F Parker
- Department of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Rebecca D Pentz
- Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | | | - Bryanna Schwartz
- Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland; Department of Cardiology, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia
| | - Daniel P Sulmasy
- The Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Departments of Medicine and Philosophy, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia
| | - Robert D Truog
- Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital; Center for Bioethics, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Anji E Wall
- Department of Surgery, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
| | - Stephen P Wall
- Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine; NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Department of Population Health, NYU, New York, New York
| | - Paul R Wolpe
- Center for Ethics, Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Kathleen N Fenton
- Advanced Technologies and Surgery Branch, Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and Department of Bioethics, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Bernat JL. The Unified Brain-Based Determination of Death Conceptually Justifies Death Determination in DCDD and NRP Protocols. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS : AJOB 2024; 24:4-15. [PMID: 38829591 DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2024.2337392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2024]
Abstract
Organ donation after the circulatory determination of death requires the permanent cessation of circulation while organ donation after the brain determination of death requires the irreversible cessation of brain functions. The unified brain-based determination of death connects the brain and circulatory death criteria for circulatory death determination in organ donation as follows: permanent cessation of systemic circulation causes permanent cessation of brain circulation which causes permanent cessation of brain perfusion which causes permanent cessation of brain function. The relevant circulation that must cease in circulatory death determination is that to the brain. Eliminating brain circulation from the donor ECMO organ perfusion circuit in thoracoabdominal NRP protocols satisfies the unified brain-based determination of death but only if the complete cessation of brain circulation can be proved. Despite its medical and physiologic rationale, the unified brain-based determination of death remains inconsistent with the Uniform Determination of Death Act.
Collapse
|
9
|
Murphy NB, Shemie SD, Capron A, Truog RD, Nakagawa T, Healey A, Gofton T, Bernat JL, Fenton K, Khush KK, Schwartz B, Wall SP. Advancing the Scientific Basis for Determining Death in Controlled Organ Donation After Circulatory Determination of Death. Transplantation 2024:00007890-990000000-00733. [PMID: 38637919 DOI: 10.1097/tp.0000000000005002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
In controlled organ donation after circulatory determination of death (cDCDD), accurate and timely death determination is critical, yet knowledge gaps persist. Further research to improve the science of defining and determining death by circulatory criteria is therefore warranted. In a workshop sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, experts identified research opportunities pertaining to scientific, conceptual, and ethical understandings of DCDD and associated technologies. This article identifies a research strategy to inform the biomedical definition of death, the criteria for its determination, and circulatory death determination in cDCDD. Highlighting knowledge gaps, we propose that further research is needed to inform the observation period following cessation of circulation in pediatric and neonatal populations, the temporal relationship between the cessation of brain and circulatory function after the withdrawal of life-sustaining measures in all patient populations, and the minimal pulse pressures that sustain brain blood flow, perfusion, activity, and function. Additionally, accurate predictive tools to estimate time to asystole following the withdrawal of treatment and alternative monitoring modalities to establish the cessation of circulatory, brainstem, and brain function are needed. The physiologic and conceptual implications of postmortem interventions that resume circulation in cDCDD donors likewise demand attention to inform organ recovery practices. Finally, because jurisdictionally variable definitions of death and the criteria for its determination may impede collaborative research efforts, further work is required to achieve consensus on the physiologic and conceptual rationale for defining and determining death after circulatory arrest.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas B Murphy
- Departments of Medicine and Philosophy, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Sam D Shemie
- Division of Critical Care Medicine, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- System Development, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Alex Capron
- Gould School of Law and Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Robert D Truog
- Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA
- Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Thomas Nakagawa
- Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL
| | - Andrew Healey
- Ontario Health (Trillium Gift of Life Network), Toronto, ON, Canada
- Divisions of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Teneille Gofton
- Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - James L Bernat
- Department of Neurology, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH
| | - Kathleen Fenton
- Advanced Technologies and Surgery Branch, Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Department of Bioethics, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
| | - Kiran K Khush
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Bryanna Schwartz
- Heart Development and Structural Diseases Branch, Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
- Division of Cardiology, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC
| | - Stephen P Wall
- Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY
- Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Royo-Villanova M, Miñambres E, Sánchez JM, Torres E, Manso C, Ballesteros MÁ, Parrilla G, de Paco Tudela G, Coll E, Pérez-Blanco A, Domínguez-Gil B. Maintaining the permanence principle of death during normothermic regional perfusion in controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death: Results of a prospective clinical study. Am J Transplant 2024; 24:213-221. [PMID: 37739346 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajt.2023.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/24/2023]
Abstract
One concern about the use of normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) in controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death (cDCD) is that the brain may be perfused. We aimed to demonstrate that certain technical maneuvers preclude such brain perfusion. A nonrandomized trial was performed on cDCD donors. In abdominal normothermic regional perfusion (A-NRP), the thoracic aorta was blocked with an intra-aortic occlusion balloon. In thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion (TA-NRP), the arch vessels were clamped and the cephalad ends vented to the atmosphere. The mean intracranial arterial blood pressure (ICBP) was invasively measured at the circle of Willis. Ten cDCD donors subject to A-NRP or TA-NRP were included. Mean ICBP and mean blood pressure at the thoracic and the abdominal aorta during the circulatory arrest were 17 (standard deviation [SD], 3), 17 (SD, 3), and 18 (SD, 4) mmHg, respectively. When A-NRP started, pressure at the abdominal aorta increased to 50 (SD, 13) mmHg, while the ICBP remained unchanged. When TA-NRP was initiated, thoracic aorta pressure increased to 71 (SD, 18) mmHg, but the ICBP remained unmodified. Recorded values of ICBP during NRP were 10 mmHg. In conclusion, appropriate technical measures applied during NRP preclude perfusion of the brain in cDCD. This study might help to expand NRP and increase the number of organs available for transplantation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mario Royo-Villanova
- Donor Transplant Coordination Unit, Service of Intensive Care, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain
| | - Eduardo Miñambres
- Donor Transplant Coordination Unit, Service of Intensive Care, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, School of Medicine, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain.
| | - José Moya Sánchez
- Donor Transplant Coordination Unit, Service of Intensive Care, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain
| | - Eduardo Torres
- Neuro-intervention Unit, Hospital Universitario de Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, Santander, Spain
| | - Clara Manso
- Service of Intensive Care, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain
| | - María Ángeles Ballesteros
- Donor Transplant Coordination Unit, Service of Intensive Care, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, Santander, Spain
| | - Guillermo Parrilla
- Interventional Neurovascular Unit, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain
| | - Gonzalo de Paco Tudela
- Interventional Neurovascular Unit, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
11
|
O'Neill S, Asgari E, Callaghan C, Gardiner D, Hartog H, Iype S, Manara A, Nasralla D, Oniscu GC, Watson C. The British transplantation society guidelines on organ donation from deceased donors after circulatory death. Transplant Rev (Orlando) 2023; 37:100791. [PMID: 37598591 DOI: 10.1016/j.trre.2023.100791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 08/11/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
Recipient outcomes after transplantation with organs from donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors can compare favourably and even match recipient outcomes after transplantation with organs from donation after brain death donors. Success is dependent upon establishing common practices and accepted protocols that allow the safe sharing of DCD organs and maximise the use of the DCD donor pool. The British Transplantation Society 'Guideline on transplantation from deceased donors after circulatory death' has recently been updated. This manuscript summarises the relevant recommendations from chapters specifically related to organ donation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stephen O'Neill
- Consultant Transplant Surgeon, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
| | - Ellie Asgari
- Consultant Nephrologist, Guy's Hospital, London, England
| | - Chris Callaghan
- Consultant Transplant Surgeon, Guy's Hospital, London, England
| | - Dale Gardiner
- Consultant Intensivist, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, England
| | - Hermien Hartog
- Consultant Transplant Surgeon, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, England
| | - Satheesh Iype
- Consultant Transplant Surgeon, Royal Free Hospital, London, England
| | - Alex Manara
- Consultant Intensivist, Southmead Hospital, Bristol, England
| | - David Nasralla
- Consultant Transplant Surgeon, Royal Free Hospital, London, England
| | - Gabi C Oniscu
- Consultant Transplant Surgeon, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, Scotland
| | - Chris Watson
- Consultant Transplant Surgeon, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, England
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Bernat JL, Domínguez-Gil B, Glazier AK, Gardiner D, Manara AR, Shemie S, Porte RJ, Martin DE, Opdam H, McGee A, López Fraga M, Rayar M, Kerforne T, Bušić M, Romagnoli R, Zanierato M, Tullius SG, Miñambres E, Royo-Villanova M, Delmonico FL. Understanding the Brain-based Determination of Death When Organ Recovery Is Performed With DCDD In Situ Normothermic Regional Perfusion. Transplantation 2023; 107:1650-1654. [PMID: 37170405 DOI: 10.1097/tp.0000000000004642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- James L Bernat
- Department of Neurology, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH
| | | | - Alexandra K Glazier
- New England Donor Services, Waltham, MA. Health Services, Policy and Practice, Brown University, Providence, RI
| | - Dale Gardiner
- Medical Directorate, Deceased Organ Donation for NHS Blood and Transplant, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Alexander R Manara
- Intensive Care Medicine, The Intensive Care Unit, Southmead Hospital, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Sam Shemie
- Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QB, Canada
| | - Robert J Porte
- Division of HPB and Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, Erasmus MC Transplant Institute, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Dominique E Martin
- Health Ethics and Professionalism School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
| | - Helen Opdam
- Australian Organ and Tissue Authority, Austin Hospital, and Warringal Private Hospital Intensive Care Unit, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Andrew McGee
- Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane City, QLD, Australia
| | - Marta López Fraga
- Quality of Medicines and Healthcare, Council of Europe, European Committee on Organ Transplantation (CD-P-TO), Strasbourg, France
| | - Michel Rayar
- Service de chirurgie Hépatobiliaire et Digestif CHU Pontchaillou, Rennes, France
| | - Thomas Kerforne
- Service d'Anesthésie-Réanimation et Médecine Périopératoire-CHU de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | - Mirela Bušić
- SoHO Standards Department of Biological Standardisation, OMCL Network and HealthCare (DBO) EDQM, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France
| | - Renato Romagnoli
- General Surgery 2U - Liver Transplant Center, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Molinette Hospital, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Marinella Zanierato
- Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Molinette Hospital, Turin, Italy
| | - Stefan G Tullius
- Transplant Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Division of Transplant Surgery Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Eduardo Miñambres
- Donor Transplant Coordination Unit and Service of Intensive Care, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, School of Medicine, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
| | - Mario Royo-Villanova
- Donor Transplant Coordination Unit and Service of Intensive Care, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca, Murcia, Spain
| | - Francis L Delmonico
- New England Donor Services, Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Kaffka genaamd Dengler SE, Vervoorn MT, Brouwer M, de Jonge J, van der Kaaij NP. Dilemmas concerning heart procurement in controlled donation after circulatory death. Front Cardiovasc Med 2023; 10:1225543. [PMID: 37583588 PMCID: PMC10424927 DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1225543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 08/17/2023] Open
Abstract
With an expanding population at risk for heart failure and the resulting increase in patients admitted to the waiting list for heart transplantation, the demand of viable organs exceeds the supply of suitable donor hearts. Use of hearts after circulatory death has reduced this deficit. Two primary techniques for heart procurement in circulatory death donors have been described: direct procurement and perfusion and thoraco-abdominal normothermic regional perfusion. While the former has been accepted as an option for heart procurement in circulatory death donors, the latter technique has raised some ethical questions in relation to the dead donor rule. In this paper we discuss the current dilemmas regarding these heart procurement protocols in circulatory death donors.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - M. T. Vervoorn
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - M. Brouwer
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - J. de Jonge
- Department of Surgery, Erasmus Medical Center Transplant Institute, Rotterdam, Netherlands
| | - N. P. van der Kaaij
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Bernat JL. Challenges to Brain Death in Revising the Uniform Determination of Death Act: The UDDA Revision Series. Neurology 2023; 101:30-37. [PMID: 37400259 PMCID: PMC10351312 DOI: 10.1212/wnl.0000000000207334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- James L Bernat
- From the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH.
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Peled H, Matthews S, Rhodes D, Bernat J. The authors reply. Crit Care Med 2023; 51:e96-e97. [PMID: 36928018 DOI: 10.1097/ccm.0000000000005803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/18/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Harry Peled
- Providence Saint Jude Medical Center, Fullerton, CA
| | | | - David Rhodes
- Providence Saint Jude Medical Center, Fullerton, CA
| | - James Bernat
- Department of Neurology, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Gardiner D, Greer DM, Bernat JL, Meade MO, Opdam H, Schwarz SKW. Answering global challenges to the determination of death: consensus-building leadership from Canada. Can J Anaesth 2023; 70:468-477. [PMID: 37131024 DOI: 10.1007/s12630-023-02423-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/04/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Dale Gardiner
- Adult Intensive Care Unit, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK.
- NHS Blood and Transplant, Bristol, UK.
| | - David M Greer
- Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
| | - James L Bernat
- Department of Neurology, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH, USA
| | - Maureen O Meade
- Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI), McMaster University Health Sciences Centre, Hamilton, ON, Canada
- Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Helen Opdam
- Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- DonateLife, The Australian Organ and Tissue Authority, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Stephan K W Schwarz
- Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Department of Anesthesia, St. Paul's Hospital/Providence Health Care, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
|
18
|
Social and Ethical-Moral Considerations in Cardiopulmonary Death Donation. TRANSPLANTATION REPORTS 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tpr.2023.100126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
|
19
|
Peled H, Mathews S, Rhodes D, Bernat JL. Normothermic Regional Perfusion Requires Careful Ethical Analysis Before Adoption Into Donation After Circulatory Determination of Death. Crit Care Med 2022; 50:1644-1648. [PMID: 36227032 DOI: 10.1097/ccm.0000000000005632] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Harry Peled
- Providence St Jude Medical Center, Fullerton, CA
| | | | - David Rhodes
- Providence St Jude Medical Center, Fullerton, CA
| | - James L Bernat
- Department of Neurology, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Lim WH, Dominguez-Gil B. Ethical Issues Related to Donation and Transplantation of Donation After Circulatory Determination of Death Donors. Semin Nephrol 2022; 42:151269. [PMID: 36577644 DOI: 10.1016/j.semnephrol.2022.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
With the continuing disparity between organ supply to match the increasing demand for kidney transplants in patients with renal failure, donation after the circulatory determination of death (DCDD) has become an important and increasing global source of kidneys for clinical use. The concern that the outcomes of controlled DCDD donor kidney transplants were inferior to those obtained from donors declared dead by neurologic criteria has largely diminished because large-scale registry and single-center reports consistently have reported favorable outcomes. For uncontrolled DCDD kidney transplants, outcomes are correspondingly acceptable, although there is a greater risk of primary nonfunction. The potential of DCDD remains unrealized in many countries because of the ethical concerns and resource implications in the utilization of these donor kidneys for transplantation. In this review, we discuss the origin and definitions of DCDD donors, and examine the long-term outcomes of transplants from DCDD donor kidneys. We discuss the controversies, challenges, and ethical and legal barriers in the acceptance of DCDD, including the complexities of implementing and sustaining controlled and uncontrolled DCDD donor programs. The lessons learned from global leaders will assist a wider international recognition, acceptance, and development of DCDD transplant programs that will noticeably facilitate and address the global shortages of kidneys for transplantation, and ensure the opportunity for people who had indicated their desires to become organ donors fulfill their final wishes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Wai H Lim
- Department of Renal Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Australia; Internal Medicine, University of Western Australia Medical School, Perth, Australia.
| | | |
Collapse
|
21
|
The Future of Heart Procurement with Donation after Circulatory Death: Current Practice and Opportunities for Advancement. J Heart Lung Transplant 2022; 41:1385-1390. [DOI: 10.1016/j.healun.2022.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 05/16/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
|
22
|
Breu AC, Rodman A. The Last Beat. Chest 2022; 161:519-523. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chest.2021.08.064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Revised: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
|
23
|
Invited commentary on “a retrievable, dual chamber stent protects against warm ischemia of donor organs in a model of donation after circulatory death”. Surgery 2022; 171:1108-1109. [DOI: 10.1016/j.surg.2021.12.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Revised: 12/11/2021] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
|
24
|
Egan TM, Haithcock BE, Lobo J, Mody G, Love RB, Requard JJ, Espey J, Ali MH. Donation after circulatory death donors in lung transplantation. J Thorac Dis 2022; 13:6536-6549. [PMID: 34992833 PMCID: PMC8662509 DOI: 10.21037/jtd-2021-13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Transplantation of any organ into a recipient requires a donor. Lung transplant has a long history of an inadequate number of suitable donors to meet demand, leading to deaths on the waiting list annually since national data was collected, and strict listing criteria. Before the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA), passed in 1980, legally defined brain death in the U.S., all donors for lung transplant came from sudden death victims [uncontrolled Donation after Circulatory Death donors (uDCDs)] in the recipient’s hospital emergency department. After passage of the UDDA, uDCDs were abandoned to Donation after Brain Death donors (DBDs)—perhaps prematurely. Compared to livers and kidneys, many DBDs have lungs that are unsuitable for transplant, due to aspiration pneumonia, neurogenic pulmonary edema, trauma, and the effects of brain death on lung function. Another group of donors has become available—patients with a devastating irrecoverable brain injury that do not meet criteria for brain death. If a decision is made by next-of-kin (NOK) to withdraw life support and allow death to occur by asphyxiation, with NOK consent, these individuals can have organs recovered if death occurs relatively quickly after cessation of mechanical ventilation and maintenance of their airway. These are known as controlled Donation after Circulatory Death donors (cDCDs). For a variety of reasons, in the U.S., lungs are recovered from cDCDs at a much lower rate than kidneys and livers. Ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) in the last decade has had a modest impact on increasing the number of lungs for transplant from DBDs, but may have had a larger impact on lungs from cDCDs, and may be indispensable for safe transplantation of lungs from uDCDs. In the next decade, DCDs may have a substantial impact on the number of lung transplants performed in the U.S. and around the world.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas M Egan
- Department of Surgery, UNC at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | | | - Jason Lobo
- Department of Medicine, UNC at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Gita Mody
- Department of Surgery, UNC at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Robert B Love
- Department of Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | - John Espey
- Department of Surgery, UNC at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Mir Hasnain Ali
- Department of Surgery, UNC at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Joffe AR, Khaira G, de Caen AR. The intractable problems with brain death and possible solutions. Philos Ethics Humanit Med 2021; 16:11. [PMID: 34625089 PMCID: PMC8500820 DOI: 10.1186/s13010-021-00107-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2019] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 05/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Brain death has been accepted worldwide medically and legally as the biological state of death of the organism. Nevertheless, the literature has described persistent problems with this acceptance ever since brain death was described. Many of these problems are not widely known or properly understood by much of the medical community. Here we aim to clarify these issues, based on the two intractable problems in the brain death debates. First, the metaphysical problem: there is no reason that withstands critical scrutiny to believe that BD is the state of biological death of the human organism. Second, the epistemic problem: there is no way currently to diagnose the state of BD, the irreversible loss of all brain functions, using clinical tests and ancillary tests, given potential confounders to testing. We discuss these problems and their main objections and conclude that these problems are intractable in that there has been no acceptable solution offered other than bare assertions of an 'operational definition' of death. We present possible ways to move forward that accept both the metaphysical problem - that BD is not biological death of the human organism - and the epistemic problem - that as currently diagnosed, BD is a devastating neurological state where recovery of sentience is very unlikely, but not a confirmed state of irreversible loss of all [critical] brain functions. We argue that the best solution is to abandon the dead donor rule, thus allowing vital organ donation from patients currently diagnosed as BD, assuming appropriate changes are made to the consent process and to laws about killing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ari R Joffe
- University of Alberta and Stollery Children's Hospital, Division of Pediatric Critical Care, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
- University of Alberta, John Dossetor Health Ethics Center, 4-546 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, 11405 112 Street, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 1C9, Canada.
| | - Gurpreet Khaira
- University of Alberta and Stollery Children's Hospital, Division of Pediatric Critical Care, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Allan R de Caen
- University of Alberta and Stollery Children's Hospital, Division of Pediatric Critical Care, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Schou A, Mølgaard J, Andersen LW, Holm S, Sørensen M. Ethics in extracorporeal life support: a narrative review. Crit Care 2021; 25:256. [PMID: 34289885 PMCID: PMC8293515 DOI: 10.1186/s13054-021-03689-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
During 50 years of extracorporeal life support (ECLS), this highly invasive technology has left a considerable imprint on modern medicine, and it still confronts researchers, clinicians and policymakers with multifarious ethical challenges. After half a century of academic discussion about the ethics of ECLS, it seems appropriate to review the state of the argument and the trends in it. Through a comprehensive literature search on PubMed, we identified three ethical discourses: (1) trials and evidence accompanying the use of ECLS, (2) ECLS allocation, decision-making and limiting care, and (3) death on ECLS and ECLS in organ donation. All included articles were carefully reviewed, arguments extracted and grouped into the three discourses. This article provides a narrative synthesis of these arguments, evaluates the opportunities for mediation and substantiates the necessity of a shared decision-making approach at the limits of medical care. ![]()
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Schou
- Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital, Hobrovej 18-22, 9100, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Jesper Mølgaard
- Centre for Cancer and Organ Diseases, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
| | - Lars Willy Andersen
- Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
| | - Søren Holm
- Department of Law, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of Manchester, Williamson Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| | - Marc Sørensen
- Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Plourde G, Briard JN, Shemie SD, Shankar JJS, Chassé M. Flow is not perfusion, and perfusion is not function: ancillary testing for the diagnosis of brain death. Can J Anaesth 2021; 68:953-961. [PMID: 33942244 PMCID: PMC8175303 DOI: 10.1007/s12630-021-01988-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2021] [Revised: 02/06/2021] [Accepted: 02/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Plourde
- Division of Critical Care, Department of Medicine, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Joel Neves Briard
- Department of Neuroscience, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Sam D Shemie
- Division of Critical Care, Montréal Children's Hospital, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Deceased Organ Donation, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | | | - Michaël Chassé
- Division of Critical Care, Department of Medicine, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.
- Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal Research Center (CRCHUM), 900 rue Saint-Denis, Montréal, QC, H2X 3H8, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Anguela-Calvet L, Moreno-Gonzalez G, Sbraga F, Gonzalez-Costello J, Tsui S, Oliver-Juan E. Heart Donation From Donors After Controlled Circulatory Death. Transplantation 2021; 105:1482-1491. [PMID: 33208694 DOI: 10.1097/tp.0000000000003545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The gold-standard therapy for advanced-stage heart failure is cardiac transplantation. Since the first heart transplant in 1967, the majority of hearts transplanted came from brain death donors. Nevertheless, in recent years, the option of donation after circulatory death (DCD) is gaining importance to increase donor pool. Currently, heart-transplant programs using controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD) have been implemented in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, United States of America, and, recently, in Spain. In this article, we performed a concise review of the literature in heart cDCD; we summarize the pathophysiology involved in ischemia and reperfusion injury during this process, the different techniques of heart retrieval in cDCD donors, and the strategies that can be used to minimize the damage during retrieval and until transplantation. Heart transplant using DCD hearts is in continuous improvement and must be implemented in experienced cardiac transplant centers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Anguela-Calvet
- Intensive Care Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain
- Transplant Procurement Unit, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gabriel Moreno-Gonzalez
- Intensive Care Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain
- Transplant Procurement Unit, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain
- Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Fabrizio Sbraga
- Cardiac Surgery Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jose Gonzalez-Costello
- Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
- Advance Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation Unit, Cardiology Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Steven Tsui
- Cardiothoracic Surgery Department, Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Eva Oliver-Juan
- Intensive Care Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain
- Transplant Procurement Unit, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain
- Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Abstract
Critics of organ donation after circulatory death (DCD) argue that, even if donors are past the point of autoresuscitation, they have not satisfied the "irreversibility" requirement in the circulatory and respiratory criteria for determining death, since their circulation and respiration could be artificially restored. Thus, removing their vital organs violates the "dead-donor" rule. I defend DCD donation against this criticism. I argue that practical medical-ethical considerations, including respect for do-not-resuscitate orders, support interpreting "irreversibility" to mean permanent cessation of circulation and respiration. Assuming a consciousness-related formulation of human death, I then argue that the loss of circulation and respiration is significant, because it leads to the permanent loss of consciousness and thus to the death of the human person. The DNR request by an organ donor should thus be interpreted to mean "do not restore to consciousness." Finally, I respond to an objection that if "irreversibility" has a medical-ethical meaning, it would entail the absurd possibility that one of two individuals in the same physical state could be alive and the other dead-an implication that some think is inconsistent with understanding death as an objective biological state of the organism. I argue that advances in medical technology have created phenomena that challenge the assumption that human death can be understood in strictly biological terms. I argue that ethical and ontological considerations about our nature bear on the definition and determination of death and thus on the permissibility of DCD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- John P Lizza
- Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown, Pennsylvania, USA
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Weiss MJ, van Beinum A, Harvey D, Chandler JA. Ethical considerations in the use of pre-mortem interventions to support deceased organ donation: A scoping review. Transplant Rev (Orlando) 2021; 35:100635. [PMID: 34174656 DOI: 10.1016/j.trre.2021.100635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2021] [Revised: 06/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/05/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
AIM Pre-mortem interventions (PMIs) are performed on patients before the determination of death in order to preserve or enhance the possibility of organ donation. These interventions can be ethically controversial, and we thus undertook a scoping review of the ethical issues surrounding diverse PMIs. METHODS Using modified scoping review methods, we executed a search strategy created by an information specialist. Screening and iterative coding of each article was done by two researchers using qualitative thematic analysis, and narrative summaries of coded themes were presented. RESULTS We identified and screened 5365 references and coded 196 peer-reviewed publications. The most frequently cited issues were related to possible harms to the patient who is a potential donor, and legitimacy of consent. The most controversial issue was that PMIs may place patients at risk for physical harm, yet benefit is accrued mainly to recipients. Some authors argued that lack of direct medical benefit to the still living patient precluded valid consent from surrogate decision makers (SDMs), while many stated that some medical risk could be approved by SDMs if it aligns with non-medical benefits valued by the patient. CONCLUSION PMIs require consensus that benefit includes concepts beyond medical benefit to the patient who is a potential donor. Informed consent must be confirmed for each PMI and not assumed to be part of general consent for donation. Risk must be proportionate to the potential benefit and newly proposed interventions should be reviewed carefully for medical efficacy and potential risks.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J Weiss
- Transplant Québec, 4100 Rue Molson #200, Montréal, QC H1Y 3N1, Canada; Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program (CDTRP), Room 6002, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Research Innovation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Division of Pediatric Intensive Care, Centre Mère-Enfant Soleil du CHU de Québec, 2705 boul Laurier, Québec, Québec, Canada.
| | - Amanda van Beinum
- Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program (CDTRP), Room 6002, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Research Innovation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Department of Sociology and Anthropology, B750 Loeb Building, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
| | - Dan Harvey
- Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust, Derby Road, Nottingham NG72UH, UK; University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG72RD, UK; National Health Services Blood & Transplant, Fox Den Road, Stoke Gifford, Avon, Bristol BS348RR, UK
| | - Jennifer A Chandler
- Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program (CDTRP), Room 6002, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Research Innovation, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada; Bertram Loeb Research Chair, University of Ottawa, 57 Louis Pasteur St., Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada; Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, 57 Louis Pasteur St., Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Jochmans I, Hessheimer AJ, Neyrinck AP, Paredes D, Bellini MI, Dark JH, Kimenai HJAN, Pengel LHM, Watson CJE. Consensus statement on normothermic regional perfusion in donation after circulatory death: report from the European Society for Organ Transplantation's Transplant Learning Journey. Transpl Int 2021; 34:2019-2030. [PMID: 34145644 DOI: 10.1111/tri.13951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Revised: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) in donation after circulatory death (DCD) is a safe alternative to in situ cooling and rapid procurement. An increasing number of countries and centres are performing NRP, a technically and logistically challenging procedure. This consensus document provides evidence-based recommendations on the use of NRP in uncontrolled and controlled DCDs. It also offers minimal ethical, logistical and technical requirements that form the foundation of a safe and effective NRP programme. The present article is based on evidence and opinions formulated by a panel of European experts of Workstream 04 of the Transplantation Learning Journey project, which is part of the European Society for Organ Transplantation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ina Jochmans
- Transplantation Research Group, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Transplantation, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Abdominal Transplant Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Amelia J Hessheimer
- Department of General & Digestive Surgery, Institut Clínic de Malalties Digestives i Metabòliques (ICMDM), Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, CIBERehd, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Arne P Neyrinck
- Anesthesiology and Algology, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - David Paredes
- Donation and Transplant Coordination Unit, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Maria Irene Bellini
- Department of Emergency Medicine and Surgery, Azienda Ospedaliera San Camillo Forlanini, Rome, Italy
| | - John H Dark
- Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK
| | - Hendrikus J A N Kimenai
- Division of Transplant Surgery, Department of Surgery, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Liset H M Pengel
- Centre for Evidence in Transplantation, Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Christopher J E Watson
- University of Cambridge, Department of Surgery, Addenbrooke's Hospital, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge, UK
| | | |
Collapse
|
32
|
Gardiner D, McGee A, Shaw D. Two fundamental ethical and legal rules for deceased organ donation. BJA Educ 2021; 21:292-299. [PMID: 34306730 DOI: 10.1016/j.bjae.2021.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- D Gardiner
- Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK
| | - A McGee
- Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - D Shaw
- Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
- Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Domínguez-Gil B, Ascher N, Capron AM, Gardiner D, Manara AR, Bernat JL, Miñambres E, Singh JM, Porte RJ, Markmann JF, Dhital K, Ledoux D, Fondevila C, Hosgood S, Van Raemdonck D, Keshavjee S, Dubois J, McGee A, Henderson GV, Glazier AK, Tullius SG, Shemie SD, Delmonico FL. Expanding controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death: statement from an international collaborative. Intensive Care Med 2021; 47:265-281. [PMID: 33635355 PMCID: PMC7907666 DOI: 10.1007/s00134-020-06341-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2020] [Accepted: 12/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
A decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment (WLST) is derived by a conclusion that further treatment will not enable a patient to survive or will not produce a functional outcome with acceptable quality of life that the patient and the treating team regard as beneficial. Although many hospitalized patients die under such circumstances, controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death (cDCDD) programs have been developed only in a reduced number of countries. This International Collaborative Statement aims at expanding cDCDD in the world to help countries progress towards self-sufficiency in transplantation and offer more patients the opportunity of organ donation. The Statement addresses three fundamental aspects of the cDCDD pathway. First, it describes the process of determining a prognosis that justifies the WLST, a decision that should be prior to and independent of any consideration of organ donation and in which transplant professionals must not participate. Second, the Statement establishes the permanent cessation of circulation to the brain as the standard to determine death by circulatory criteria. Death may be declared after an elapsed observation period of 5 min without circulation to the brain, which confirms that the absence of circulation to the brain is permanent. Finally, the Statement highlights the value of perfusion repair for increasing the success of cDCDD organ transplantation. cDCDD protocols may utilize either in situ or ex situ perfusion consistent with the practice of each country. Methods to accomplish the in situ normothermic reperfusion of organs must preclude the restoration of brain perfusion to not invalidate the determination of death.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Nancy Ascher
- Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Alexander M Capron
- Scott H. Bice Chair in Healthcare Law, Policy and Ethics, Department of Medicine and Law, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Dale Gardiner
- Intensive Care Medicine, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK
| | - Alexander R Manara
- Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine, The Intensive Care Unit, Southmead Hospital, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK
| | - James L Bernat
- Department of Neurology and Medicine, Active Emeritus, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, NH, USA
| | - Eduardo Miñambres
- Transplant Coordination Unit and Service of Intensive Care, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, School of Medicine, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain
| | - Jeffrey M Singh
- University of Toronto, and Trillium Gift of Life Network, Toronto, Canada
| | - Robert J Porte
- Department of Surgery, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - James F Markmann
- Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kumud Dhital
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Sant Vincent'S Hospital, Sidney, Australia
| | - Didier Ledoux
- Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Constantino Fondevila
- General and Digestive Surgery, Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, CIBERehd, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sarah Hosgood
- Department of Surgery, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Dirk Van Raemdonck
- University Hospitals Leuven and Catholic University Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Shaf Keshavjee
- Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - James Dubois
- Bioethics Research Center, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Andrew McGee
- Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane City, Australia
| | - Galen V Henderson
- Director of Neurocritical Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Stefan G Tullius
- Division of Transplant Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sam D Shemie
- Pediatric Intensive Care, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University, Medical Advisor, Deceased Donation, Canadian Blood Services, Montreal, Canada
| | - Francis L Delmonico
- Chief Medical Officer, New England Donor Services, 60 1st Ave, Waltham, MA, 02451, USA.
- Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School at Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Murphy N, Weijer C, Smith M, Chandler J, Chamberlain E, Gofton T, Slessarev M. Controlled Donation After Circulatory Determination of Death: A Scoping Review of Ethical Issues, Key Concepts, and Arguments. THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS : A JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS 2021; 49:418-440. [PMID: 34665091 DOI: 10.1017/jme.2021.63] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Controlled donation after circulatory determination of death (cDCDD) is an important strategy for increasing the pool of eligible organ donors.
Collapse
|
35
|
Coll E, Miñambres E, Sánchez-Fructuoso A, Fondevila C, Campo-Cañaveral de la Cruz JL, Domínguez-Gil B. Uncontrolled Donation After Circulatory Death: A Unique Opportunity. Transplantation 2020; 104:1542-1552. [PMID: 32732830 DOI: 10.1097/tp.0000000000003139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Uncontrolled donation after circulatory death (uDCD) refers to donation from persons who die following an unexpected and unsuccessfully resuscitated cardiac arrest. Despite the large potential for uDCD, programs of this kind only exist in a reduced number of countries with a limited activity. Barriers to uDCD are of a logistical and ethical-legal nature, as well as arising from the lack of confidence in the results of transplants from uDCD donors. The procedure needs to be designed to reduce and limit the impact of the prolonged warm ischemia inherent to the uDCD process, and to deal with the ethical issues that this practice poses: termination of advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation, extension of advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation beyond futility for organ preservation, moment to approach families to discuss donation opportunities, criteria for the determination of death, or the use of normothermic regional perfusion for the in situ preservation of organs. Although the incidence of primary nonfunction and delayed graft function is higher with organs obtained from uDCD donors, overall patient and graft survival is acceptable in kidney, liver, and lung transplantation, with a proper selection and management of both donors and recipients. Normothermic regional perfusion has shown to be critical to achieve optimal outcomes in uDCD kidney and liver transplantation. However, the role of ex situ preservation with machine perfusion is still to be elucidated. uDCD is a unique opportunity to improve patient access to transplantation therapies and to offer more patients the chance to donate organs after death, if this is consistent with their wishes and values.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Eduardo Miñambres
- Intensive Care Unit and Donor Coordination Unit, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain
| | - Ana Sánchez-Fructuoso
- Nephrology Department, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Carlos, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
36
|
Gardiner D, McGee A, Bernat JL. Permanent brain arrest as the sole criterion of death in systemic circulatory arrest. Anaesthesia 2020; 75:1223-1228. [PMID: 32430978 DOI: 10.1111/anae.15050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Historically, there has been a tendency to think that there are two types of death: circulatory and neurological. Holding onto this tendency is making it harder to navigate emerging resuscitative technologies, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and the recent well-publicised experiment that demonstrated the possibility of restoring cellular function to some brain neurons 4 h after normothermic circulatory arrest (decapitation) in pigs. Attempts have been made to respond to these difficulties by proposing a unified brain-based criterion for human death, which we call 'permanent brain arrest'. The clinical characteristics of permanent brain arrest are the permanent loss of capacity for consciousness and permanent loss of all brainstem functions, including the capacity to breathe. These losses could arise from a primary brain injury or as a result of systemic circulatory arrest. We argue that permanent brain arrest is the true and sole criterion for the death of human beings and show that this is already implicit in the circulatory-respiratory criterion itself. We argue that accepting the concept of permanent cessation of brain function in patients with systemic permanent circulatory arrest will help us better navigate the medical advances and new technologies of the future whilst continuing to provide sound medical criteria for the determination of death.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- D Gardiner
- Department of Intensive Care, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK
| | - A McGee
- Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - J L Bernat
- Department of Neurology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
White FJ. Controversy in the Determination of Death: The Definition and Moment of Death. LINACRE QUARTERLY 2019; 86:366-380. [PMID: 32431429 PMCID: PMC6880073 DOI: 10.1177/0024363919876393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This essay reviews recent controversy in the determination of death, with particular attention to the definition and moment of death. Definitions of death have evolved from the intuitive to the pathophysiologic and the medicolegal. Many United States jurisdictions have codified the definition of death relying on guidance from the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA). Flaws in the structure of the UDDA have led to misunderstanding of the physiologic nature of death and methods for the determination of death, resulting in a bifurcated concept of death as either circulatory/respiratory or neurologic. The practice of organ donation after circulatory determination of death (DCDD) raises a number of ethical questions, most prominently revolving around the moment of death and manifested as an expedited time to determination of death, a departure from the unitary concept of death, a violation of the dead donor rule, and a challenge to the standard of irreversibility. Attempts to redefine the determination of death from an irreversibility standard to a permanence standard have significant impact on the social contract upon which deceased donor organ transplantation rests, and must entail broad societal examination. The determination of death is best reached by a clear, strict, and uniform irreversibility standard. In deceased donor organ transplantation, the interests of the donor as a person are paramount, and no interest of organ recipients or of the greater society can justify negation of the rights and bodily integrity of the person who is a donor, nor conversion of the altruism of giving into the calculus of taking.
Collapse
|
38
|
den Hartogh G. When are you dead enough to be a donor? Can any feasible protocol for the determination of death on circulatory criteria respect the dead donor rule? THEORETICAL MEDICINE AND BIOETHICS 2019; 40:299-319. [PMID: 31562590 PMCID: PMC6790209 DOI: 10.1007/s11017-019-09500-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
The basic question concerning the compatibility of donation after circulatory death (DCD) protocols with the dead donor rule is whether such protocols can guarantee that the loss of relevant biological functions is truly irreversible. Which functions are the relevant ones? I argue that the answer to this question can be derived neither from a proper understanding of the meaning of the term "death" nor from a proper understanding of the nature of death as a biological phenomenon. The concept of death can be made fully determinate only by stipulation. I propose to focus on the irreversible loss of the capacity for consciousness and the capacity for spontaneous breathing. Having accepted that proposal, the meaning of "irreversibility" need not be twisted in order to claim that DCD protocols can guarantee that the loss of these functions is irreversible. And this guarantee does not mean that reversing that loss is either conceptually impossible or known to be impossible with absolute certainty.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Govert den Hartogh
- Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Hessheimer AJ, Riquelme F, Fundora-Suárez Y, García Pérez R, Fondevila C. Normothermic perfusion and outcomes after liver transplantation. Transplant Rev (Orlando) 2019; 33:200-208. [PMID: 31239189 DOI: 10.1016/j.trre.2019.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Revised: 06/04/2019] [Accepted: 06/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Ischemia has been a persistent and largely unavoidable element in solid organ transplantation, contributing to graft deterioration and adverse post-transplant outcomes. In liver transplantation, where available organs arise with greater frequency from marginal donors (i.e., ones that are older, obese, and/or declared dead following cardiac arrest through the donation after circulatory death process), there is increasing interest using dynamic perfusion strategies to limit, assess, and even reverse the adverse effects of ischemia in these grafts. Normothermic perfusion, in particular, is used to restore the flow of oxygen and other metabolic substrates at physiological temperatures. It may be used in liver transplantation both in situ following cardiac arrest in donation after circulatory death donors or during part or all of the ex situ preservation phase. This review article addresses issues relevant to use of normothermic perfusion strategies in liver transplantation, including technical and logistical aspects associated with establishing and maintaining normothermic perfusion in its different forms and clinical outcomes that have been reported to date.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Amelia J Hessheimer
- Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery & Transplantation, General & Digestive Surgery Service, Digestive & Metabolic Disease Institute (ICMDM), Hospital Clínic, CIBERehd, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Francisco Riquelme
- Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery & Transplantation, General & Digestive Surgery Service, Digestive & Metabolic Disease Institute (ICMDM), Hospital Clínic, CIBERehd, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Spain
| | - Yiliam Fundora-Suárez
- Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery & Transplantation, General & Digestive Surgery Service, Digestive & Metabolic Disease Institute (ICMDM), Hospital Clínic, CIBERehd, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Spain
| | - Rocío García Pérez
- Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery & Transplantation, General & Digestive Surgery Service, Digestive & Metabolic Disease Institute (ICMDM), Hospital Clínic, CIBERehd, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Spain
| | - Constantino Fondevila
- Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgery & Transplantation, General & Digestive Surgery Service, Digestive & Metabolic Disease Institute (ICMDM), Hospital Clínic, CIBERehd, IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Molina M, Domínguez-Gil B, Pérez-Villares JM, Andrés A. Uncontrolled donation after circulatory death: ethics of implementation. Curr Opin Organ Transplant 2019; 24:358-363. [PMID: 31090649 DOI: 10.1097/mot.0000000000000648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Despite its potential to increase the donor pool, uncontrolled donation after circulatory death (uDCD) is available in a limited number of countries. Ethical concerns may preclude the expansion of this program. This article addresses the ethical concerns that arise in the implementation of uDCD. RECENT FINDINGS The first ethical concern is that associated with the determination of an irreversible cardiac arrest. Professionals must strictly adhere to local protocols and international standards on advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation, independent of their participation in an uDCD program. Cardiac compression and mechanical ventilation are extended beyond futility during the transportation of potential uDCD donors to the hospital with the sole purpose of preserving organs. Importantly, potential donors remain monitored while being transferred to the hospital, which allows the identification of any return of spontaneous circulation. Moreover, this procedure allows the determination of death to be undertaken in the hospital by an independent health care provider who reassesses that no other therapeutic interventions are indicated and observes a period of the complete absence of circulation and respiration. Extracorporeal-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation programs can successfully coexist with uDCD programs. The use of normothermic regional perfusion with ECMO devices for the in-situ preservation of organs is considered appropriate in a setting in which the brain is subject to profound and prolonged ischemic damage. Finally, communication with relatives must be transparent and accurate, and the information should be provided respecting the time imposed by the family's needs and emotions. SUMMARY uDCD can help increase the availability of organs for transplantation while giving more patients the opportunity to donate organs after death. The procedures should be designed to confront the ethical challenges that this practice poses and respect the values of all those involved.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- María Molina
- Department of Nephrology, Hospital Universitario '12 de Octubre'
- Department of Nephrology, Hospital Universitario Arnau de Vilanova
- Institut de Recerca Biomèdica, Lleida
| | | | - José M Pérez-Villares
- Coordinación Sectorial de Trasplantes de Granada, Servicio de Medicina Intensiva Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain
| | - Amado Andrés
- Department of Nephrology, Hospital Universitario '12 de Octubre'
- Instituto de Investigación Hospital '12 de Octubre' (imas12), Madrid
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Introducing of the First DCD Kidney Transplantation Program in Poland. BIOMED RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2019; 2019:6302153. [PMID: 31016193 PMCID: PMC6425340 DOI: 10.1155/2019/6302153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
In many countries, including Poland, the main problem with transplantation is the insufficiency of organ donors in relation to the demand for organs. Hence, the common aim globally is to increase the pool of donors. The prolonged survival of patients after transplantation, with respect to the survival time of patients on dialysis, makes the search much more intense. After the recourse of expanded criteria donors (ECD), the next step was obtaining kidneys from donors after irreversible cardiac death (DCD). Therefore, based on Dutch, British, and Spanish experience, it can be hypothesized that the introduction of DCD procedures in countries that have not launched these programs and the improvement of DCD procedures may shorten the waiting time for organ transplantation globally. The legal basis for the procurement of organs after irreversible cardiac arrest came into existence in Poland in 2010. Previously, such organ procurements were not in practice. Since 1984, when Poland published irreversible cardiac arrest as a criterion of brain death, it became the only way to determine death prior to the procurement of organs. The aim of this report was to evaluate the results of the first 19 transplantation cases involving harvested kidneys from donors after cardiac arrest, which was irreversible and clinically confirmed, without any doubt as per the ethical protocol of DCD. Understanding, support, and public perception are essential for this program's initiation and maintenance.
Collapse
|
42
|
Abstract
Despite the popularity, success, and growth of programs of organ donation after the circulatory determination of death (DCDD), a long-standing controversy persists over whether the organ donor is truly dead at the moment physicians declare death, usually following five minutes of circulatory and respiratory arrest. Advocates of the prevailing death determination standard claim that the donor is dead when declared because of permanent cessation of respiration and circulation. Critics of this standard argue that while the cessation of respiration and circulation may be permanent, it may not be irreversible at the moment death is declared because, if cardiopulmonary resuscitation were performed, it might succeed. And because irreversibility of cessation of respiration and circulation is required by both the statute and the biological concept of death, the donor must be alive. Who is correct? Making two related distinctions clarifies the cause of the disagreement over whether the DCDD donor is dead and points to a possible resolution. First, in a determination of death, there is an important distinction between the permanent and the irreversible cessation of circulation and respiration-two associated phenomena that are often confounded. Second, there is an important distinction between the medical practice standard for death determination, in which physicians certify the permanent cessation of vital functions as sufficient for death declaration, and the underlying biological concept of death that requires the irreversible cessation of vital functions because death, by definition, is an irreversible event.
Collapse
|
43
|
|
44
|
Veatch RM. Are Organ Donors Really Dead: The Near-Irrelevance of Autoresuscitation. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS : AJOB 2018; 18:1-2. [PMID: 30133388 DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2018.1489652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
|
45
|
Weiss MJ, Hornby L, Shemie SD, Appleby A, Rochwerg B. GRADEing the un-GRADE-able: a description of challenges in applying GRADE methods to the ethical and implementation questions of pediatric organ donation guidelines. J Clin Epidemiol 2018; 103:134-137. [PMID: 29966729 DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2018.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2017] [Revised: 05/20/2018] [Accepted: 06/15/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Good practice statements (GPSs) have been proposed by the GRADE working group as a way of avoiding the inappropriate characterization of evidence as low quality in support of strong recommendations justified by indirect evidence. This commentary examines how the GPS methodology was applied to the development of a recent guideline for pediatric deceased donation after circulatory determined death. This guideline was informed by a broad body of indirect literature and addressed a variety of social, legal, and ethical questions in addition to several implementation issues. While the resulting document contained a vast majority of GPS (63 as opposed to seven actionable GRADEd recommendations), we maintain that this application was appropriate to develop recommendations within the GRADE framework. This commentary explores how GPS may be applied in this context and explores whether a new classification of recommendations focused on these types of issues may be appropriate.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J Weiss
- Division of Pediatric Intensive Care, CHU de Québec, Centre Mère-Enfant Soleil, Québec, QC, Canada; Medical Director of Donation, Transplant Québec, Montréal, QC, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Université Laval, Faculté de Médecine, Québec, QC, Canada; Deceased Donation, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Laura Hornby
- Deceased Donation, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sam D Shemie
- Deceased Donation, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Division of Critical Care, Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre and Research Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada; Professor of Pediatrics, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Amber Appleby
- Deceased Donation, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Bram Rochwerg
- Deceased Donation, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Department of Medicine (Division of Critical Care), McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Department of Health Research Methods, Impact and Evidence, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
46
|
Shemie SD, Gardiner D. Circulatory Arrest, Brain Arrest and Death Determination. Front Cardiovasc Med 2018; 5:15. [PMID: 29662882 PMCID: PMC5890102 DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2018.00015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2017] [Accepted: 02/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Technological advances, particularly in the capacity to support, replace or transplant failing organs, continue to challenge and refine our understanding of human death. Given the ability to reanimate organs before and after death, both inside and outside of the body, through reinstitution of oxygenated circulation, concepts related to death of organs (e.g. cardiac death) are no longer valid. This paper advances the rationale for a single conceptual determination of death related to permanent brain arrest, resulting from primary brain injury or secondary to circulatory arrest. The clinical characteristics of brain arrest are the permanent loss of capacity for consciousness and loss of all brainstem functions. In the setting of circulatory arrest, death occurs after the arrest of circulation to the brain rather than death of the heart. Correspondingly, any intervention that resumes oxygenated circulation to the brain after circulatory arrest would invalidate the determination of death.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sam David Shemie
- Division of Critical Care, Montreal Children's Hospital, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Deceased Organ Donation, Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Dale Gardiner
- Adult Intensive Care Units, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, United Kingdom.,NHS Blood and Transplant, Bristol, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
|
48
|
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Create trustworthy, rigorous, national clinical practice guidelines for the practice of pediatric donation after circulatory determination of death in Canada. METHODS We followed a process of clinical practice guideline development based on World Health Organization and Canadian Medical Association methods. This included application of Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation methodology. Questions requiring recommendations were generated based on 1) 2006 Canadian donation after circulatory determination of death guidelines (not pediatric specific), 2) a multidisciplinary symposium of national and international pediatric donation after circulatory determination of death leaders, and 3) a scoping review of the pediatric donation after circulatory determination of death literature. Input from these sources drove drafting of actionable questions and Good Practice Statements, as defined by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation group. We performed additional literature reviews for all actionable questions. Evidence was assessed for quality using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation and then formulated into evidence profiles that informed recommendations through the evidence-to-decision framework. Recommendations were revised through consensus among members of seven topic-specific working groups and finalized during meetings of working group leads and the planning committee. External review was provided by pediatric, critical care, and critical care nursing professional societies and patient partners. RESULTS We generated 63 Good Practice Statements and seven Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation recommendations covering 1) ethics, consent, and withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy, 2) eligibility, 3) withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy practices, 4) ante and postmortem interventions, 5) death determination, 6) neonatal pediatric donation after circulatory determination of death, 7) cardiac and innovative pediatric donation after circulatory determination of death, and 8) implementation. For brevity, 48 Good Practice Statement and truncated justification are included in this summary report. The remaining recommendations, detailed methodology, full Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation tables, and expanded justifications are available in the full text report. CONCLUSIONS This process showed that rigorous, transparent clinical practice guideline development is possible in the domain of pediatric deceased donation. Application of these recommendations will increase access to pediatric donation after circulatory determination of death across Canada and may serve as a model for future clinical practice guideline development in deceased donation.
Collapse
|
49
|
Abstract
End-organ failure is associated with high mortality and morbidity, in addition to increased health care costs. Organ transplantation is the only definitive treatment that can improve survival and quality of life in such patients; however, due to the persistent mismatch between organ supply and demand, waiting lists continue to grow across the world. Careful intensive care management of the potential organ donor with goal-directed therapy has the potential to optimize organ function and improve donation yield.
Collapse
|
50
|
McGee A, Gardiner D. The Papworth donation-after-circulatory-death heart technique and its challenge to the permanence standard. J Heart Lung Transplant 2017; 37:S1053-2498(17)31949-6. [PMID: 28844779 DOI: 10.1016/j.healun.2017.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2017] [Revised: 08/01/2017] [Accepted: 08/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew McGee
- Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Dale Gardiner
- Intensive Care Medicine, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK; NHS Blood and Transplant, Bristol, UK.
| |
Collapse
|