[Factors affecting the survival of transplants from donors after prehospital cardiac death].

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate factors that influence the survival of transplanted organs from donors after prehospital cardiac death.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Retrospective observational study of data collected from hospital emergency service records. Information included prehospital cardiac deaths evaluated as donors as well as patients who received transplants.

RESULTS

Two hundred cases from 2008 through 2011 were studied. Sixty-nine potential donors (34.5%) were rejected. Three hundred organs were extracted from the remaining 131 donor cases, to yield a mean (SD) of 2.32 (0.83) transplanted organs/donor or 1.52 (1.29) organs/potential donor. One hundred fifty-two potential donors (76%) were treated with mechanical cardiopumps during transport. We detected no significant differences between cases transported with manual chest compressions and cases treated with cardiopumps regarding age (40.1 vs 43.5 years, P=.06), responder arrival times (13 min 54 s vs 12 min 54 s, P=.45), or transport times (1 h 27 min vs 1 h 32 min). However, case transported with manual chest compressions yielded significantly more kidneys (mean, 1.96/potential donor) than those transported with cardiopump compressions (mean, 1.38/potential donor) (P=.008). Eleven of the 229 kidneys harvested (4%) were not transplanted. The median (interquartile range) serum creatinine concentrations after kidney transplants at 6 and 12 months, respectively, were 1.37 (1.10-1.58) mg/dL and 1.43 (1.11-1.80) mg/dL.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that the use of a cardiopump reduces donor recruitment. Long-term creatinine levels are similar after transplantation of kidneys from donors transported with a cardiopump or with manual compressions.