Organ donation: the reality of an intensive care unit in Portugal

Abstract

ObjectiveTo clinically and demographically characterize potential organ donors admitted to a general intensive care unit and analyze data on donated organs.MethodsThis retrospective study was conducted from 2010 to 2015 and analyzed demographic and clinical variables and the number of harvested organs and tissues.ResultsA total of 92 potential organ donors were identified, of whom eight were non-effective donors and 84 were effective donors (59.5% were expanded criteria donors). The mean age of the potential donors was 60.7 years, and the majority were men. Hemorrhagic stroke accounted for 55.4% of brain deaths. The most common blood type among the donors was A Rh+ (43.5%), and the most common comorbidity was arterial hypertension (43.3%). The most frequently collected organs were the kidneys (84.5%) and liver (66.7%). The average number of organs harvested per donor was 2.8, and this ratio was smaller for donors with expanded criteria compared to other donors.ConclusionIn most cases, potential organ donors died of brain death, were older than middle age, were male and were victims of a hemorrhagic stroke. The majority of the donors were expanded criteria donors and donated an average of two to three organs. The organs donated most frequently were the kidneys and liver.

Retrospective analysis of the patients with brain death diagnosis in the last 5 years in our hospital

“…Karasu et al 7 reported that 58 (73.4%) of 79 patients with brain death were hospitalized with bleeding-obstructive cerebrovascular disease. De Eira et al 13 in a study conducted in Portugal, the most common cause of brain death was hemorrhagic (55.3%) and ischemic (17.4%) strokes. Escudero et al 14 also reported that the most common causes of their 1844 brain death cases were intracerebral hemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and stroke.…”

“…The most common hospitalization diagnoses leading to the brain death process are usually sudden bleeding and obstructive intracranial events 13,14 . Karasu et al 7 reported that 58 (73.4%) of 79 patients with brain death were hospitalized with bleeding-obstructive cerebrovascular disease.…”

Brain Death and Deceased Organ Donation in a Hospital in İstanbul, Turkey: The Effect of Early Identification of Brain Dead on Organ Donation Rates: A Retrospective Study

“…These findings are similar to those of other studies. In a study conducted in Portugal, Eira et al (3) found that the most common causes of BD were hemorrhagic strokes (55.3%) and ischemic strokes (17.4%). In Turkey, in a study by Karasu et al (4), they found that 73% of patients who experienced BD in the ICU had been admitted for bleeding-obstructive In our study, only 6 (10.0%) of the families gave consent for organ donation.…”

Retrospective Investigation of Brain Death and Organ Donation Cases in a Training and Research Hospital

“…[17] tarafından yapılan çalışmada tanılara göre travma grubunun %48.3, santral sinir sisteminde patoloji bulunan grubun %33.3 ve diğerlerinin ise %18.3 olduğu bulunmuştur. Beyin ölümüne neden olan tanılar açısından bakıldığında en çok intrakranial kanama ve serebrovasküler olayların neden olduğu görülmektedir [16,18] . Çalışmamız literatürle benzerlik taşımaktadır.…”