Ten Years of Quality Monitoring of Abdominal Organ Procurement in the Netherlands and Its Impact on Transplant Outcome.

In this study, 10 years of procurement quality monitoring data were analyzed to identify potential risk factors associated with procurement-related injury and their association with long-term graft survival. All deceased kidney, liver, and pancreas donors from 2012 to 2022 and their corresponding recipients in the Netherlands were retrospectively included. The incidence of procurement-related injuries and potential risk factors were analyzed. Of all abdominal organs procured, 23% exhibited procurement-related injuries, with a discard rate of 4.0%. In kidneys and livers, 23% of the grafts had procurement-related injury, with 2.5% and 4% of organs with procurement-related injury being discarded, respectively. In pancreas procurement, this was 27%, with a discard rate of 24%. Male donor gender and donor BMI >25 were significant risk factors for procurement-related injury in all three abdominal organs, whereas aberrant vascularization was significant only for the kidney and liver. In the multivariable Cox regression analyses, procurement-related injury was not a significant predictor for graft failure (kidney; HR 0.99, 95% CI 0.75-1.33, p = 0.99, liver; HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.66-1.28, p = 0.61, pancreas: HR 1.16; 95% CI 0.16-8.68, p = 0.88). The findings of this study suggest that transplant surgeons exhibited good decision-making skills in determining the acceptability and repairability of procurement-related injuries.

Radiological Screening Methods in Deceased Organ Donation: An Overview of Guidelines Worldwide.

Organ transplantation is performed worldwide, but policies regarding donor imaging are not uniform. An overview of the policies in different regions is missing. This study aims to investigate the various protocols worldwide on imaging in deceased organ donation. An online survey was created to determine the current policies. Competent authorities were approached to fill out the survey based on their current protocols. In total 32 of the 48 countries approached filled out the questionnaire (response rate 67%). In 16% of the countries no abdominal imaging is required prior to procurement. In 50%, abdominal ultrasound (US) is performed to screen the abdomen and in 19% an enhanced abdominal Computed Tomography (CT). In 15% of the countries both an unenhanced abdominal CT scan and abdominal US are performed. In 38% of the countries a chest radiographic (CXR) is performed to screen the thorax, in 28% only a chest CT, and in 34% both are performed. Policies regarding radiologic screening in deceased organ donors show a great variation between different countries. Consensus on which imaging method should be applied is missing. A uniform approach will contribute to quality and safety, justifying (inter)national exchange of organs.