Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Michael J. O'Leary, George Skowronski, Christine Critchley, Lisa O'Reilly, Cynthia Forlini, Linda Sheahan, Cameron Stewart, Ian Kerridge
Summary: This study investigated the attitudes of the general Australian public towards death determination, treatment withdrawal, and organ donation. The results showed that in the context of DCDD scenarios, the majority of respondents agreed that a patient could be declared dead 2 minutes after circulatory standstill and supported organ donation. There was also high support for treatment withdrawal and organ donation requests from patients with severe brain injury and quadriplegia. The timing of death determination prior to organ donation may not be of paramount importance to many people.
INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Surgery
Matthew P. Sypek, Martin Howell, Kirsten Howard, Germaine Wong, Emily Duncanson, Philip D. Clayton, Peter Hughes, Stephen McDonald
Summary: The study found that community members prioritize equity in kidney allocation, while healthcare professionals focus on maximizing utility. There are discordant views between community members and healthcare professionals, which should be taken into consideration in the design, evaluation, and implementation of deceased donor kidney allocation protocols.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Aijing Luo, Haiyan He, Zehua Xu, Xuantong Deng, Wenzhao Xie
Summary: The study found that most donor families lacked social support, especially in terms of emotional and material support. The coping style of family members was related to their level of social support.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2021)
Article
Ethics
Emil J. Nielsen Busch, Marius T. Mjaaland
Summary: The vital status of patients involved in cDCD is a controversial topic in bioethical literature. This article argues that both opponents and proponents of cDCD protocols often misunderstand the moral implications of the dead donor rule. The authors contend that the rule does not require an assessment of a donor's vital status, but rather whether the procurement of organs in cDCD causes the donor's death. They further argue that commonly practiced cDCD protocols do not violate the dead donor rule as the donation process does not cause the donor's death.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Angela Kotsopoulos, Piet Vos, Marloes Witjes, Meint Volbeda, Hildegard Franke, Jelle Epker, Hans Sonneveld, Koen Simons, Ewald Bronkhorst, Ruud Mullers, Nichon Jansen, Hans van der Hoeven, Wilson F. Abdo
Summary: This study aimed to develop prediction models for circulatory death within 1 or 2 hours after withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment in controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD) donors. The models were developed using LASSO regression and machine learning-artificial intelligence analysis, and their predictive ability was externally validated. The results showed that the models had a reasonable ability to predict circulatory death.
Review
Ethics
Antoine Baumann, Nathalie Thilly, Liliane Joseph, Frederique Claudot
Summary: Relatives play a significant role in post-mortem organ donation decisions, but their decision-making may be affected by grief. The lack of ethical reflection support emphasizes the importance of involving specialized professionals for assistance.
Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Abigail L. Latimer, Melanie D. Otis, Christopher Flaherty, Miriam A. Ross
Summary: This study explored the association between VAD coordinators' unique roles and responsibilities and moral distress, identifying team communication, competence, and location of VAD discontinuation as potential important factors related to VAD coordinators' distress. Further research with larger sample sizes and continued exploration of training and curriculum impact is needed.
Article
Surgery
Laura Washburn, Nhu Thao Nguyen Galvan, Priyanka Moolchandani, Matthew B. Price, Smruti Rath, Ruth Ackah, Kevin A. Myers, R. P. Wood, Sandra Parsons, Ryan P. Brown, Elitza Ranova, Matthew Goss, Abbas Rana, John A. Goss
Summary: The study found that 68% to 74% of participants agreed or strongly agreed with IDD, both as a general question and in a specific case scenario. Participants were concerned about patient's recovery after a devastating brain injury (34%) and about doctors' effort in saving a patient's life (33%). Only 9% of participants would be less likely to trust the organ donation process.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION
(2021)
Article
Urology & Nephrology
Krista L. Lentine, Vidya A. Fleetwood, Yasar Caliskan, Henry Randall, Jason R. Wellen, Melissa Lichtenberger, Craig Dedert, Richard Rothweiler, Gary Marklin, Diane Brockmeier, Mark A. Schnitzler, Syed A. Husain, Sumit Mohan, Bertram L. Kasiske, Matthew Cooper, Roslyn B. Mannon, David A. Axelrod
Summary: Procurement biopsies are commonly utilized in organ acceptance decisions despite inconsistent access to experienced renal pathologists and diverse approaches to criteria, scoring, and interpretation. Ongoing research and consensus-building are necessary to guide procurement biopsy practices towards increasing organ utilization and reducing allocation inefficiency.
KIDNEY INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Hae Sung Kang, Niluka Wickramaratne, Loren K. Liebrecht, Martin J. Mangino
Summary: This study demonstrates that the use of polyethylene glycol-20k IV solution can effectively resuscitate and support brain dead organ donors, while reducing complications.
BIOMEDICINE & PHARMACOTHERAPY
(2022)
Article
Critical Care Medicine
Sanne P. C. van Oosterhout, Anneke G. van der Niet, W. Farid Abdo, Marianne Boenink, Thomas G. V. Cherpanath, Jelle L. L. Epker, Angela M. M. Kotsopoulos, Walther N. K. A. van Mook, Hans P. C. Sonneveld, Meint Volbeda, Gert Olthuis, Jelle L. P. van Gurp
Summary: The study examines how clinicians discuss patients' donor registrations in donor conversations in the first years of the opt-out system in the Netherlands. It highlights the complex interplay between donor registrations and clinician-family interactions, and suggests incorporating different routes in clinical training and promoting public conversations about donation.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Paul Boadu, Leah McLaughlin, Mustafa Al-Haboubi, Jennifer Bostock, Jane Noyes, Stephen O'Neill, Nicholas Mays
Summary: This study used machine learning to analyze data from 14,278 participants in the organ donation attitudinal tracker survey in the UK. The findings suggest that support for organ donation, awareness of campaigns, and younger age positively influence the intention to become a living kidney donor. Ethnic origin and religion have less predictive power in this regard. The results are valuable for developing interventions to increase living organ donation.
FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
(2023)
Editorial Material
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
John D. O'Neill, Brandon A. Guenthart, Ahmed E. Hozain, Matthew Bacchetta
Summary: The article discusses a novel method of cross-circulation ex-vivo lung perfusion using xenographic support, highlighting the potential benefits of enhancing recovery of donor organs and increasing the availability of donor lungs for transplant. The authors address ethical, biosafety, immunological, and logistical concerns, showcasing the potential advantages of this technique.
JOURNAL OF THORACIC AND CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Tamar Ashkenazi, Avraham Stoler, Eytan Mor
Summary: This study examined the impact of the priority program in the Israeli Transplant Law on waiting list mortality and allocation changes. The results showed that candidates signing a donor card had lower waitlist mortality and higher transplant rates, without significantly affecting access to transplant for other candidates.
Article
Surgery
Matthew P. Robertson, Jacob Lavee
Summary: This study conducts a forensic review of Chinese-language transplant publications and finds evidence suggesting that Chinese physicians have participated in executions by organ removal, implying a violation of the dead donor rule.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION
(2022)