Extending donor source with bench coronary angiography: a case report

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Organ Transplantation
• Medical Diagnostics

Background:

• Current donor heart evaluation relies on cardiac catheterization (CathLab), which has limited accessibility and poses risks of nephrotoxic effects.
• There is a critical need for accessible and safe methods to assess donor heart viability to address organ shortages.

Observation:

• Bench coronary angiography is proposed as a viable alternative for examining the coronary system of donor hearts.
• This method aims to provide image quality comparable to CathLab procedures.

Findings:

• Bench coronary angiography is economical and widely available.
• The technique can effectively indicate coronary lesions, aiding surgical assessment.
• It avoids the nephrotoxic effects associated with traditional methods.

Implications:

• This approach enhances the potential to utilize marginal donor hearts, particularly from older donors.
• It offers a solution to improve donor heart selection and alleviate organ scarcity.
• Safer donor heart evaluation can increase the overall success rate of heart transplantation.