Donor lung procurement: assessment and operative technique

Given the relative scarcity of suitable donors and the widespread application of cardiac and pulmonary transplantation, it is imperative that a heart and two lungs be extracted from each donor. From increasing clinical experience and laboratory investigation in lung preservation, more flexible criteria for the assessment of potential lung donors are emerging. In this communication, we present our current criteria of donor lung suitability, and a simple and reliable technique of combined cardiopulmonary extraction that has provided suitable heart and lung grafts with excellent preservation, used in our last 150 donor organ procurements.