Organ recovery from a donor with end-stage renal disease: a case study

As the field of transplantation enters the new millennium, maximizing organs per donor remains one of the greatest challenges of procurement. This case study outlines nontraditional medical management techniques that facilitated the recovery of 5 transplantable organs from a patient with end-stage renal disease. Strategies utilized in this case included the use of continuous veno-venous hemodialysis and airway pressure release ventilation to maximize the outcomes of the donation. Although the use of these strategies is admittedly limited to hospitals where the resources are available, this case study suggests that utilizing available resources in any clinical setting can make more organs available to people on the waiting list for solid organ transplantation.