Thoracoabdominal Normothermic Regional Perfusion and Donation After Circulatory Death Lung Use

Donation after circulatory death (DCD) heart procurement has increased, but concerns remain about the effect of simultaneous heart and lung procurement, particularly with thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion (TA-NRP), on the use of DCD lungs. Previous analyses exclude critical donor factors and organ nonuse, and rapidly rising DCD use may bias comparisons to historical controls.

To use validated risk-adjusted models to assess whether DCD heart procurement via TA-NRP and direct procurement is associated with lung use.

This retrospective cohort study involved adult DCD donors between January 1, 2019, and September 30, 2024, listed in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). The SRTR deceased donor yield model was used to develop an observed to expected (O:E) yield ratio of lung use obtained through DCD among 4 cohorts: cardiac DCD donors vs noncardiac DCD donors and cardiac DCD donors undergoing TA-NRP vs direct procurement. Temporal trends in O:E ratios were analyzed with the Cochran-Armitage test.

The O:E ratios of DCD lung use.

Among 24 431 DCD donors (15 878 [65.0%] male; median [IQR] age, 49.0 [37.0-58.0] years), 22 607 were noncardiac DCD (14 375 [63.6%] male; median [IQR] age, 51.0 [39.0-58.0] years) and 1824 were cardiac DCD (1503 [82.4%] male; median [IQR] age, 32.0 [26.0-38.0] years) donors; noncardiac DCD donors were more likely to be smokers (6873 [30.4%] vs 227 [12.4%]; P < .001). Among cardiac DCD donors, 325 underwent TA-NRP, while 712 underwent direct procurement. TA-NRP donors had shorter median (IQR) lung ischemic times (6.07 [4.38-9.56] hours vs 8.12 [6.16-12.00] hours; P < .001) and distances to recipient hospitals (222 [9-626] nautical miles vs 331 [159-521] nautical miles; P = .050) than direct procurement donors. Lung use was higher among cardiac DCD donations compared with noncardiac DCD donations (16.7% vs 4.4%, P < .001). Within the cardiac DCD cohort, lung use was similar between TA-NRP and direct procurement (19.1% vs 18.7%; P = .88) cohorts. Both noncardiac DCD and cardiac DCD donors had observed lung yields greater than expected (O:E, 1.29 [95% CI, 1.21-1.35] and 1.79 [95% CI, 1.62-1.96]; both P < .001), although cardiac DCD yield was significantly higher than noncardiac DCD yield (P < .001). Both TA-NRP and direct procurement lung yields were greater than expected (O:E, 2.00 [95% CI, 1.60-2.43] and 1.77 [95% CI, 1.52-1.99]; both P < .001) but were not significantly different from each other (P = .83). The O:E ratios did not change significantly over time across all cohorts. Among recipients, the TA-NRP cohort experienced significantly better 90-day mortality (0 of 62 vs 9 of 128 patients [7.0%]; P = .03) and overall survival (4 of 62 patients [6.5%] vs 21 of 128 patients [16.4%]; P = .04) rates compared with the direct procurement cohort.

In this cohort study of DCD donors, concomitant heart procurement provided better-than-expected rates of lung use as assessed with validated O:E use ratios regardless of procurement technique. The findings also suggest a survival benefit with improved 90-day and overall survival rates for the TA-NRP cohort compared with the direct procurement cohort. Policies should be developed to maximize the benefits of these donations.