Non–heart-beating donors (then) and donation after cardiac death (now)

In the 1960s and 1970s, before the acceptance of brain death, donated organs were obtained from non–heart-beating donors. Today, this type of donor is referred to as a donor after cardiac death (DCD). After the acceptance of brain death criteria, most of the organs for transplantation were obtained from heart-beating donors. However, because of the shortage of brain-dead heart-beating donors in the 1980s, Maastricht surgeons started using organs obtained from DCD. Subsequently, they defined 4 different categories of non–heart-beating donors. In the United States, DCD donation has only recently gained widespread use. In this article, we present a historical overview of DCD donation; examine current practices for organ preservation and outcomes for kidney, kidney-pancreas, liver, and lung transplantation performed using organs obtained from DCD donors; and reported to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network/United Network for Organ Sharing database.