Deceased Donor Infectious Diseases Testing and Antimicrobial Use: Surveys of Organ Procurement Organizations and...

Donor screening and antimicrobial management processes are inconsistent across organ procurement organizations (OPOs) and transplant centers. As part of a Controversies Conference addressing the evaluation and management of infectious diseases (ID) in deceased donors sponsored by the American Society of Transplantation (AST), two online pre-meeting surveys were developed to inform conference proceedings and assess current practices and opinions on donor screening and antimicrobial management.

Survey 1 addressed the current state of deceased donor ID testing, culture data communication, antimicrobial utilization, and involvement of transplant ID during donor management and was distributed to all 56 United States OPOs. Survey 2 evaluated transplant professionals' opinions regarding donor antimicrobial use and was sent to the AST Infectious Disease, Kidney Pancreas, Liver and Intestinal, and Thoracic and Critical Care Community of Practice listservs. Descriptive statistics were performed.

Thirty-five (63%) unique responses were received from OPOs for Survey 1. Findings included variability in the timing of donor culture collection, frequent sampling of indwelling catheters, wide variation in the location of culture processing, and availability of additional susceptibility testing. Eighty-eight unique responses were received from approximately 1552 (6%) transplant providers for Survey 2. Of the respondents, 37% would not recommend standard antibiotics prior to organ recovery in the absence of suspected or confirmed infection.

These surveys demonstrate variability in donor testing, donor antimicrobial utilization, and transplant provider opinions regarding the need for and selection of antimicrobial agents. Findings highlight opportunities for standardized approaches to donor testing and management.