Holy month of Ramadan and increase in organ donation willingness.

Organ shortage is the most significant factor in restricting the activities of transplantation systems. We herein report the positive impact of Muslims' holy month of Ramadan on willingness to donate organs in Iran. Data were derived from the database of Donation Willingness Registries, affiliated to the organ procurement unit of Masih Daneshvari Hospital during March 2007 till March 2008. The number of applications for organ donation was compared between Ramadan and its previous month, and the socio-economic characteristics of the applicants were compared between those who applied in Ramadan and those who did so in the previous month. In addition, the mean number of daily applications was compared between Ramadan and the other months of the same year. A total of 11528 applications for organ donation cards were registered for the Ramadan of 2007 as opposed to 4538 applications in the previous month, showing an increasing rate of 154%. The mean number of daily applications was significantly higher in Ramadan than that of the other months of the same year (P < 0.001). There was also a significant difference in terms of the socio-economic characteristics between the applicants in Ramadan and those in the previous month. The increase in organ donation willingness in Ramadan may be the result of the propagation of altruism by the mass media and religious organizations. Ramadan seems to provide a great opportunity to promote organ donation across the Muslim world.

Our experience with organ procurement from hemodynamically unstable brain dead patients.

BACKGROUND: Effective organ procurement is the result of meticulous care to brain dead patients. Hemodynamic instability may occur in these patients and, if not managed and treated carefully, may lead to loss of precious organs. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the hemodynamic status of brain dead patients and its effect on organ donation.
MATERIAL/METHODS: We retrospectively studied all hospitalization records of brain dead patients at Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Tehran, Iran. We reviewed the patients' status during hospitalization for organ retrieval for their homodynamic condition to see if they had stable or unstable condition. We then followed all cases to see if the hemodynamic condition of the patients had an effect on organ harvest result. For data analysis we used Chi-square test.
RESULTS: In the studied brain dead patients, 95.2% were hemodynamically unstable. Organ procurement was successful in 87.2% of unstable patients. Organ procurement was successful in all patients with stable condition. Unstable hemodynamic condition of the patients had no effect on the rate of successful organ retrieval (p=0.588).
CONCLUSIONS: The majority of brain dead patients in our center were in unstable homodynamic state. Such condition may have no signi fi cant effect on success rate of organ procurement. Proper care for brain dead patients would increase the success rate of organ procurement even in hemodynamically unstable patients.