Cadaveric organ donor availability: regional trauma center vs. community hospital

Organ donor shortage is now the greatest limitation to the success of organ transplantation. To assess and compare the role of a regional trauma center in identifying and referring cadaveric organ donors to that of a community hospital, we retrospectively reviewed records of potential cadaveric organ donors during a comparable 5-year period in each. The trauma center (TC) contributed 44 donors, while the community hospital (CH) supplied seven. Five hundred sixty-five possible donors were not harvested at the TC, compared to 126 at the CH. While most "non-donors" from both institutions were not suitable candidates, 8% could have served as good organ donors. Inability to obtain consent was the major obstacle in obtaining good candidates (70% at CH, 83% at TC). Failure to recognize and refer possible donors occurred in 2% of the cases at CH, compared to 0.4% at the TC. We conclude that regional trauma centers can play an important role in alleviating organ donor shortage.