Overseas organ donation during wartime operations: Benchmarking military performance against civilian practice

Over the past 15 years of war, eligible U.S. military members donated organs overseas in Germany. Our hypothesis was that outcomes at a military treatment facility were comparable to a civilian cohort.

Military donors were matched 1:3 with a donor cohort from the U.S. United Network for Organ Sharing. Data were compared using univariate and multivariate analysis. Significance set at p < 0.05.

Forty military organ donors were compared with 116 civilian matched donors. The military cohort conversion rate was 75.5% and recovered more organs per donor (4.6 vs. 4.0, p = 0.02) with more transplants (4.2 vs 3.5, p = 0.01). Multivariate analysis controlling for sex, age, and type of organ donation showed no difference in odds of total organs donated in the military versus civilian cohort (odds ratio 2.1, 95% CI 0.87-5.24, p = 0.10).

Organ donation at a military treatment facility overseas can be accomplished successfully.