Uncontrolled Deceased Cardiac Donation: An Unutilized Source for Organ Transplantation in the United States

The practice of uncontrolled donation after cardiac death (uDCD) has been met with tepid interest within the United States transplant community. Hesitancy stems largely from fears of eroding public trust due to complex ethical issues involving consent. Beyond ethical concerns, uDCD creates unique logistic challenges to obtain and to preserve organs within a short time frame. This mandates that organ recovery centers be able to rapidly mobilize, and that traditional cold preservation techniques may be inadequate. Proof of effective uDCD organ recovery comes from several European nations, and the frequency of its use is increasing due to early promising results. These scarce resources provide life-saving organs to desperate transplant candidates who otherwise experience high morbidity and mortality on a transplant waitlist. The objective of this review will be to provide an overview of the European experience with uDCD and discuss the unique ethical and logistic challenges associated with its implementation in the United States. Given existing models for it successful use, uDCD remains a poorly utilized source of donors in the United States at this time.