Increasing organ donation after cardiac death in trauma patients

• DCD increased from 3.1% in 2002 to 14.6% in 2013 in trauma donors.
• Solid organs donated after DCD increased from 2% in 2002 to 9.5% in 2013.
• Increased DCD kidney and liver donation over the study period.
• DCD is a viable source of solid organs from potential trauma organ donors.

BackgroundOrgan donation after cardiac death (DCD) is not optimal but still remains a valuable source of organ donation in trauma donors. The aim of this study was to assess national trends in DCD from trauma patients.MethodsA 12-year (2002 to 2013) retrospective analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing database was performed. Outcome measures were the following: proportion of DCD donors over the years and number and type of solid organs donated.ResultsDCD resulted in procurement of 16,248 solid organs from 8,724 donors. The number of organs donated per donor remained unchanged over the study period (P = .1). DCD increased significantly from 3.1% in 2002 to 14.6% in 2013 (P = .001). There was a significant increase in the proportion of kidney (2002: 3.4% vs 2013: 16.3%, P = .001) and liver (2002: 1.6% vs 2013: 5%, P = .041) donation among DCD donors over the study period.ConclusionsDCD from trauma donors provides a significant source of solid organs. The proportion of DCD donors increased significantly over the last 12 years.