Breaking barriers in cardiac donation after circulatory death.

BACKGROUND

Heart transplant (HT) from controlled donation after circulatory death (cDCD) is an emerging strategy that is rapidly expanding and may help increase the heart donor pool.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

The use of thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation device has allowed to perform HT after cDCD in our country. We present a successful case of heart transplantation using a graft from cDCD with 201 min cold ischemia time.

DISCUSSION AND

CONCLUSION

HT from cDCD could be a good alternative to brain dead donation. This experience suggests than nonlocal cardiac from cDCD could tolerate long periods of cold ischemia time and break the main barriers with this technique.