Cardiac transplantation from a carbon monoxide intoxicated donor

Heart transplantation is a demonstrated successful and life-saving treatment for an increasing number of patients. The growth of heart transplantation surgery is limited by the relative lack of suitable donors, and the increasing demand has lead to the expansion of acceptance criteria. Patients succumbing to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning are usually considered not suitable organ donors and they are routinely rejected in many centers. Although organs from CO poisoning donors have been occasionally used, cardiac transplantation in this scenario remains very uncommon. We report the successful heart transplantation from a CO intoxicated donor, who was previously refused by two other transplantation teams. Standard donor evaluation criteria, transplantation techniques and management were used. Limited cases are described in literature. The present case may increase awareness among emergency department physicians, as well as transplantations teams, that patients dying of CO exposure may be acceptable cardiac donors.