A few realistic questions raised by organ retrieval in the intensive care unit

A multicenter observational study to establish practice for circulatory death declaration for organ donation in South Korea

Background This study aimed to determine the proportion of organ donors suitable for donation after circulatory death and investigate the current process followed by critical care physicians for declaring circulatory death to establish organ donation. Methods This observational study involved potential organ donors who had recently died after discontinuation of life support. We conducted an online survey of intensivists to determine how these deaths were confirmed. Results Among the 177 patients who died after withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment across 19 intensive care units in 11 institutions, 49 (27.7%) were considered potential donors. According to general medical criteria for organ donation, 20 (11.3%) patients were identified as medically suitable donors. Notably, 116 (73.9%) patients exhibited a flat electrocardiogram within 5 min after the loss of pulse. In the survey, 90 physicians (59.2%) agreed to implement the concept of the 5-min no-touch period for the declaration of circulatory death. Conclusions This study found that 11.3% of the patients who died following the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in the intensive care units were identified as suitable donors after circulatory death. Most of critical care physicians agree with the concept of a 5-min no-touch period for the declaration of circulatory death.

Tensions between end-of-life care and organ donation in controlled donation after circulatory death: ICU healthcare professionals experiences

BACKGROUND

The development of controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD) is both important and challenging. The tension between end-of-life care and organ donation raises significant ethical issues for healthcare professionals in the intensive care unit (ICU). The aim of this prospective, multicenter, observational study is to better understand ICU physicians' and nurses' experiences with cDCD.

METHODS

In 32 ICUs in France, ICU physicians and nurses were invited to complete a questionnaire after the death of end-of-life ICU patients identified as potential cDCD donors who had either experienced the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies alone or with planned organ donation (OD(-) and OD( +) groups). The primary objective was to assess their anxiety (State Anxiety Inventory STAI Y-A) following the death of a potential cDCD donor. Secondary objectives were to explore potential tensions experienced between end-of-life care and organ donation.

RESULTS

Two hundred six ICU healthcare professionals (79 physicians and 127 nurses) were included in the course of 79 potential cDCD donor situations. STAI Y-A did not differ between the OD(-) and OD( +) groups for either physicians or nurses (STAI Y-A were 34 (27-38) in OD(-) vs. 32 (27-40) in OD( +), p = 0.911, for physicians and 32 (25-37) in OD(-) vs. 39 (26-37) in OD( +), p = 0.875, for nurses). The possibility of organ donation was a factor influencing the WLST decision for nurses only, and a factor influencing the WLST implementation for both nurses and physicians. cDCD experience is perceived positively by ICU healthcare professionals overall.

CONCLUSIONS

cDCD does not increase anxiety in ICU healthcare professionals compared to other situations of WLST. WLST and cDCD procedures could further be improved by supporting professionals in making their intentions clear between end-of-life support and the success of organ donation, and when needed, by enhancing communication between ICU physician and nurses.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This research was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT05041023, September 10, 2021).

Ethical issues of organ donation after circulatory death: Considerations for a successful implementation in Chile

Organ transplantation is a lifesaving procedure for end-organ damage and remains up to today as the most cost-effective alternative to treat these conditions. However, the main limitation to performing organ transplants is the availability of donor organs suitable for transplantation. To increase the donor pool, expanding organ donation from the conventional neurologic determination of death (NDD) to include circulatory determination of death (DCD) has been a well-established method of increasing donors in other countries. In this article, we discuss the clinical and ethical considerations for introducing DCD in Chile. The concepts we have used could very well be translatable to other similar countries which have not implemented this donation system yet. The most relevant issue to date is that DCD needs to alter the care of dying patients to obtain quality donor organs. In some countries, including Chile, there are some cultural barriers regarding withdrawal-of-care. These barriers include confusing withdrawal of care with acceleration of death, which leads to many practitioners refusing to remove artificial life support, and in turn only minimize ventilatory support or switch to a T-tube (without extubation). This cultural barrier could be overcome with careful consideration of the opinions of healthcare workers, family members, community and policy-based stakeholders. We also identified ethical issues related to informed consent of both donor and recipients, among other relevant ethical considerations. In conclusion, DCD donation in Chile can increase organ donation numbers in one of Latin America's countries with the lowest effective donor rate. However, this opportunity must be taken with caution to avoid the opposite effect if this policy is not well implemented, respecting the sound ethical principles mentioned in this paper.

Critical pathways for controlled donation after circulatory death in France

INTRODUCTION

In 2015, France authorised controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD) according to a nationally approved protocol. The aim of this study is to provide an overview from the perspective of critical care specialists of cDCD. The primary objective is to assess how the organ donation procedure affects the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies (WLST) process. The secondary objective is to assess the impact of cDCD donors' diagnoses on the whole process.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This 2015-2019 prospective observational multicentre study evaluated the WLST process in all potential cDCD donors identified nationwide, comparing 2 different sets of subgroups: 1- those whose WLST began after organ donation was ruled out vs. while it was still under consideration; 2- those with a main diagnosis of post-anoxic brain injury (PABI) vs. primary brain injury (PBI) at the time of the WLST decision.

RESULTS

The study analysed 908 potential cDCD donors. Organ donation remained under consideration at WLST initiation for 54.5% of them with longer intervals between their WLST decision and its initiation (2 [1-4] vs. 1 [1-2] days, P < 0.01). Overall, 60% had post-anoxic brain injury. Time from ICU admission to WLST decision was longer for primary brain injury donors (10 [4-21] vs. 6 [4-9] days, P < 0.01). Median time to death (agonal phase) was 15 [15-20] minutes.

CONCLUSIONS

French cDCD donors are mostly related to post-anoxic brain injury. The organ donation process does not accelerate WLST decision but increases the interval between the WLST decision and its initiation.

Determining the Level of Importance of Variables in Predicting Kidney Transplant Survival Based on a Novel Ranking Method

BACKGROUND

Kidney transplantation is the best alternative treatment for end-stage renal disease. To optimal use of donated kidneys, graft predicted survival can be used as a factor to allocate kidneys. The performance of prediction techniques is highly dependent on the correct selection of predictors. Hence, the main objective of this research is to propose a novel method for ranking the effective variables for predicting the kidney transplant survival.

METHODS

Five classification models were used to classify kidney recipients in long- and short-term survival classes. Synthetic minority oversampling and random undersampling were used to overcome the imbalanced class problem. In dealing with missing values, 2 approaches were used (eliminating and imputing them). All variables were categorized into 4 levels. The ranking was evaluated using the sensitivity analysis approach.

RESULTS

Thirty-four of the 41 variables were identified as important variables, of which, 5 variables were categorized in very important level ("Recipient creatinine at discharge," "Recipient dialysis time," "Donor history of diabetes," "Donor kidney biopsy," and "Donor cause of death"), 17 variables in important level, and 12 variables in the low important level.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, we identify new variables that have not been addressed in any of the previous studies (eg, AGE_DIF and MATCH_GEN). On the other hand, in kidney allocation systems, 2 main criteria are considered: equity and utility. One of the utility subcriteria is the graft survival. Our study findings can be used in the design of systems to predict the graft survival.

Controlled Donation After Circulatory Determination of Death: A Scoping Review of Ethical Issues, Key Concepts, and Arguments

Controlled donation after circulatory determination of death (cDCDD) is an important strategy for increasing the pool of eligible organ donors.

The patient with severe traumatic brain injury: clinical decision-making: the first 60 min and beyond

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

There is an urgent need to discuss the uncertainties and paradoxes in clinical decision-making after severe traumatic brain injury (s-TBI). This could improve transparency, reduce variability of practice and enhance shared decision-making with proxies.

RECENT FINDINGS

Clinical decision-making on initiation, continuation and discontinuation of medical treatment may encompass substantial consequences as well as lead to presumed patient benefits. Such decisions, unfortunately, often lack transparency and may be controversial in nature. The very process of decision-making is frequently characterized by both a lack of objective criteria and the absence of validated prognostic models that could predict relevant outcome measures, such as long-term quality and satisfaction with life. In practice, while treatment-limiting decisions are often made in patients during the acute phase immediately after s-TBI, other such severely injured TBI patients have been managed with continued aggressive medical care, and surgical or other procedural interventions have been undertaken in the context of pursuing a more favorable patient outcome. Given this spectrum of care offered to identical patient cohorts, there is clearly a need to identify and decrease existing selectivity, and better ascertain the objective criteria helpful towards more consistent decision-making and thereby reduce the impact of subjective valuations of predicted patient outcome.

SUMMARY

Recent efforts by multiple medical groups have contributed to reduce uncertainty and to improve care and outcome along the entire chain of care. Although an unlimited endeavor for sustaining life seems unrealistic, treatment-limiting decisions should not deprive patients of a chance on achieving an outcome they would have considered acceptable.

Impact of the use of vasoactive drugs in cardiac death donors on the early postoperative renal function and related complications in renal transplant recipients

Background

To explore the impact of the use of vasoactive drugs in donation after cardiac death (DCD) donors on graft function, with an attempt to guide the clinical practices of organ preservation and DCD kidney transplantation.

Methods

The clinical data of 187 DCD donors and 304 recipients who were operated on in our center from February 2018 to May 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Based on whether vasoactive drugs were used for maintaining blood pressure in DCD donors, the renal donors and recipients were divided into a high-dose group (norepinephrine ≥1.3 µg/kg/min or in combination with dopamine), a low-dose group (norepinephrine <1.3 µg/kg/min or in conjunction with dopamine), and a no-medication group (without the use of vasoactive drugs). The clinical features, post-transplant renal function, and complications were compared among these three groups.

Results

The early renal function 1 and 7 days after surgery was significantly superior in the high-dose group and no-medication group (P<0.05) but showed no significant difference between the low-dose group and the no-medication group (P>0.05). Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) on the 1st postoperative days was significantly higher in the high-dose group than in the low-dose group and the no-medication group (P<0.05). Renal function indicators, including serum creatinine (CRE), BUN, and blood uric acid (UA) on the 30th postoperative day, showed no significant difference among these three groups (P>0.05). The incidence of delayed graft function (DGF) after renal transplantation was significantly higher in the high-dose group than in the low-dose group and the no-medication group (P<0.05), whereas there was no significant difference between the groups in the incidences of graft rejection and infections (P>0.05).

Conclusions

The use of vasoactive drugs in DCD donors can affect the early recovery of renal function in renal transplant recipients, particularly for those donors who are administered a high dose of vasoactive drugs. Therefore, donor maintenance should be performed cautiously with vasoactive drugs.