While euthanasia has been legalized in a growing number of countries, organ donation after euthanasia is only performed in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Canada. Moreover, the clinical practice of heart donation after euthanasia has never been reported before. We describe the first case of a heart donated after euthanasia, reconditioned with thoraco-abdominal normothermic regional perfusion, preserved using cold storage while being transported to a neighboring transplant center, and then successfully transplanted following a procurement warm ischemic time of 17 min. Heart donation after euthanasia using thoraco-abdominal normothermic regional perfusion is feasible, it could expand the heart donor pool and reduce waiting lists in countries where organ donation after euthanasia can be performed.
Keywords: cardiology; cardiovascular disease; clinical researchpractice; donors and donation: deceased; donors and donation: donation after circulatory death (DCD); ethics; ethics and public policy; heart transplantation; organ procurement; organ procurement and allocation.
© 2022 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.