Organ procurement from cardiac arrest donors: outcome of kidney grafts andproposals for procurement in France

OBJECTIVES: To compare literature data with results obtained with organs pr ocured from donors who died from cardiac arrest and to make proposals for t his mode of organ procurement in France. METHODS: Over the last 10 years, 10 organ donors (2%) among a series of 486 donors in a slate of brain death, had died oi cardiac arrest The arrest we re perfused with double-balloon catheters. The outcome of the subsequent ki dney grafts was compared with data in the literature. RESULTS: Fifteen of the 18 kidneys from cardiac arrest donors were function ing 1 month after implantation compared with 17 of the 20 kidneys from brai n-death donors with beating hearts. The rate of acute tubular necrosis was 55% in the cardiac arrest kidneys and 40% in the beating-herat kidneys. Ser um creatinine at 1 yeart was 145 +/- 69 mu mol/l 17 +/- 29 mu mol/l respect ively. DISCUSSION: These results and those reported in the literature demonstrate that kidney procurement from cardiac arrest donors is feasible if intensive care and surgery units are well organized, this type of organ procurement could provide a larger number of organs for transplantation. Emergency team s must be available For preparing and transferring the organs.