Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2026
07:08
A High-Fidelity Porcine Model of Orthotopic Heart Transplantation Following Donation after Circulatory Death
Published on: June 6, 2025
Donation after cardiac death: a 29-year experience
Janet M Bellingham1, Chandrasekar Santhanakrishnan, Nikole Neidlinger
1Division of Organ Transplantation, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53792-7375, USA.
Surgery
|October 18, 2011
Summary
Organ transplantation from donation after cardiac death (DCD) donors shows comparable long-term outcomes for kidney, pancreas, and lung recipients. DCD liver transplants had increased complications, but overall, DCD organs are successful in meeting critical transplant demand.
Area of Science:
- Transplantation immunology and organ viability
- Surgical outcomes and patient survival in organ allografts
- Organ donor criteria and utilization
Background:
- The demand for organ transplantation significantly exceeds donor availability.
- Donation after cardiac death (DCD) offers a potential source of organs to address this disparity.
- Long-term outcomes of DCD organ transplantation require continued evaluation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the long-term outcomes of 1218 organs transplanted from DCD donors.
- To compare the outcomes of DCD organ transplants with those from donors after brain death (DBD).
- To assess the viability and success of kidney, liver, pancreas, and lung allografts from DCD donors.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 1218 DCD organ transplants (kidneys, livers, pancreas, lungs) performed between 1980 and 2008.
- Comparison of DCD transplant outcomes with a cohort of 6016 DBD organ transplants.
- Evaluation of patient survival, graft survival, rejection rates, and surgical complications.
Main Results:
- Kidney, pancreas, and lung transplants from DCD donors demonstrated comparable patient and graft survival to DBD donors at 1, 3, and 10 years.
- DCD liver transplantation showed significantly lower patient and graft survival rates.
- Increased biliary complications and retransplantation rates for ischemic cholangiopathy were observed in DCD liver recipients.
- Delayed graft function was higher in DCD kidney transplants in the most recent 16-year period, but overall survival and complication rates were similar to DBD kidneys.
- Surgical complications and rejection rates were equivalent between DCD and DBD lung recipients.
- Pancreas transplant recipients showed no differences in surgical complications, rejection, or glycemic control.
Conclusions:
- This study, representing the largest single-center experience with over 1000 DCD transplants, confirms the successful use of DCD organs.
- Kidney, pancreas, and lung allografts from DCD donors yield long-term outcomes comparable to DBD donors.
- While DCD liver transplantation presents challenges, particularly with biliary complications, DCD donors remain a crucial source for meeting the critical demand for organ transplantation.
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