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Updated: Dec 6, 2025
Lung Rapid Recovery Procurement Combined with Abdominal Normothermic Regional Perfusion in Controlled Donation after Circulatory Death
Published on: August 15, 2022
Extended-criteria uncontrolled DCD donor for a fragile recipient: A case report about a challenging yet successful
Valeria Musso1, Paolo Mendogni2, Vittorio Scaravilli3
1Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplantation Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda - Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico of Milan, Milan, Italy; Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Introduction:
Lung donation after circulatory death (DCD) has proved to be an effective strategy for expanding the donor pool, but is still considered challenging. We report a successful case of lung procurement from an extended-criteria uncontrolled DCD.
Presentation Of Case:
We evaluated the lungs of an uncontrolled DCD from a hospital without extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) program. The donor was a non-smoker 20-year old male with a history of cardiomyopathy, cardiocirculatory arrests, and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Cardiac arrest occurred in a swimming pool, and bronchoscopy showed signs of inhalation. We employed our usual normothermic in-situ open-ventilated lung approach. After retrieval, lungs were stored on ice, then evaluated with ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) and judged suitable for transplantation. The recipient was a 26-year old female with cystic fibrosis on long-term oxygen therapy, on the waitlist for up to 21 months due to her anthropomorphic characteristics. She required central VA-ECMO support during bilateral lung transplantation. Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) within the first 72 h reached grade 3; post-operative peripheral VV-ECMO support was discontinued two days after surgery. The patient was discharged 28 days after surgery; she is alive two years after transplantation with no signs of rejection nor anastomotic complications.
Discussion:
Despite the spreading use of lungs from controlled DCD, perplexities remain on uncontrolled DCD, namely: severe PDG, postoperative mortality, airway complications.
Conclusion:
Our case report suggests that good results can be achieved with uncontrolled DCD despite the presence of relative contraindications: inhalation of water, prolonged ischemic times and recipient in poor conditions.
