脑死亡器官捐献肝脏影像评估的研究进展

我国从2010年3月开始开展公民逝世后器官捐献工作,根据心、脑死亡国际标准并结合中国国情将公民逝世后器官捐献分为3类,并逐渐过渡为以脑死亡器官捐献(DBD)供体为主。脑死亡后,肝脏出现组织灌注不足、微循环障碍,并导致一系列病理生理改变,影响移植受体的长期生存。精确客观地评估供肝质量是目前研究的重点,本文总结DBD供肝的影像学评估现状及发展,着重于超声造影和弹性超声技术在供肝评估中的应用进展。     

法国器官捐献和移植管理及规范

法国较早建立起国内统一的公平、公开、公正的组织器官捐献和移植体系,器官捐献率位于世界前列。2004年8月法国政府对生命伦理法规进行修订,创建了欧洲唯一的综合性的生物医学研究机构,业务涉及器官捐献与移植、组织和细胞、人类生育繁殖、胚胎学及人类遗传学4个领域。本文简要介绍法国生物医学研究所、器官捐献相关法律和捐献移植现状、器官获取与分配步骤等。     

公民逝世后器官捐献体系建设的构想

近年来,我国的器官捐献体系建设已取得突破,但仍存在职责不明、信息不畅、监管不到位、工作效率不高等问题。本文拟就改进和完善我国公民逝世后器官捐献体系作一探讨,目标是建立红十字会主导下的器官捐献行政管理与监督机构,建立全面覆盖、畅通便捷的器官捐献信息网络,建立依附于区域移植中心的器官获取组织。     

中国肺移植供体标准及获取转运指南

2015年我国供肺利用率仅约5%。从器官获取组织(OPO)进行供肺协调、初步评估和维护,到供肺获取直至最后经民航、高速公路、高铁转运完成肺移植,每一环节都相当艰难。许多初评合格的供肺,由于缺乏有效的维护而无法用于移植。因此,我们组织专家制订我国肺移植供体标准及获取转运指南,从我国肺移植供肺捐献的分类、供肺选择标准、供肺维护策略、供肺获取流程、供肺转运流程等方面,总结我国肺移植的临床实践经验,希望能为肺移植相关临床科室提供工作指引。     

公民逝世后器官捐献供肾评估方法及改善的研究进展

公民逝世后器官捐献正逐渐成为我国器官移植的主要器官来源。公民逝世后器官捐献供肾受多种不稳定因素影响,其质量不能得到有效的保障,导致公民逝世后器官捐献移植肾术后原发性无功能和移植物功能延迟恢复的发生率较高。因此,提高术前评估水平、改善供肾质量、降低术后早期并发症发生率是公民逝世后器官捐献肾移植重点要解决的问题。本文针对目前公民逝世后器官捐献供肾的两种常用评估方法——术前供肾活组织检查和机械灌注,及改善供肾质量的方法——体外膜肺氧合(ECMO)进行述评,介绍其研究进展。     

器官捐献协调员在公民逝世后器官捐献供者转运方面的作用

正器官移植已成为挽救器官功能衰竭患者最有效的治疗方法。尽管近年来我国器官移植事业已取得较大进展,但供器官数量与需要进行器官移植的患者人数之间仍存在着长期不平衡~([1])。自2015年1月1日起,我国全面停止使用司法途径器官,公民逝世后器官捐献成为我国移植供器官的主要来源。公民逝世后器官捐献供者从基层医院转运至同城移植医院的过程中,如何对供者进行高效维护和及时转运以保证供器官质量,成为提高供器官利用率和移植成功     

公民逝世后器官捐献供肾移植临床分析

目的探讨公民逝世后器官捐献供肾移植的近期临床效果。方法公民逝世后器官捐献供肾移植73例,供者43例,其中本院器官获取组织42例,外院器官获取组织分享1例。分析肾移植术后人/肾存活率和并发症的发生情况。结果 73例受者随访9~38个月,术后6个月、1年的人/肾存活率分别为97.3%/94.5%、94.5%/91.8%。10例(13.7%)受者发生移植肾功能恢复延迟,15例(20.5%)受者术后发生急性排斥反应,21例(28.8%)受者发生肺部感染。2例受者移植肾丢失,4例受者移植肾带功死亡。结论公民逝世后器官捐献供肾移植近期疗效较好,是解决供肾来源的有效途径。     

公民逝世后器官捐献供肝质量评估和维护的体会

目的总结公民逝世后器官捐献供肝质量评估和功能维护的经验。方法回顾性分析2012年7月至2015年6月在中山大学附属第三医院器官移植中心成功实施的93例器官捐献供者和87例器官捐献供肝肝移植的临床资料。介绍该中心对供肝质量的评估和功能维护经验,总结器官捐献器官获取和利用的情况,以及接受器官捐献肝移植受体恢复情况。结果供者器官的平均热缺血时间为8 min(1~12 min),器官切取手术操作顺利,器官切取手术平均耗时为32 min(20~52 min)。93例供体获取了93个肝脏,成功用于肝移植87例,弃用6例(重度脂肪肝3例、肝纤维化2例、肝脏撕裂伤1例),含2例肝肾联合移植。移植肝功能恢复良好,仅有1例出现原发性移植肝无功能。结论对公民逝世后器官捐献的供者进行早期正确的评估和维护,能够提高移植器官质量,改善移植效果。     

心脏死亡供肾评估和保存的现状及进展

由于心脏死亡捐献(DCD)器官较脑死亡捐献(DBD)器官的热缺血时间更长,组织缺氧、缺血再灌注损伤也较严重,这就增加了不可逆的移植物原发性无功能(PNF)和移植肾功能恢复延迟(DGF)的发生.因此,对DCD器官进行科学的评估和保存,选择质量较好的供肾,缩短供肾的热缺血时间,从而减轻组织缺氧和炎症反应等不利因素,是减少PNF和DGF,增加移植物活力及受者存活率的有效手段.现就此作如下综述.     

中国移植器官保护专家共识(2016版)

器官移植是治疗终末期脏器功能衰竭最有效的手段,公民逝世后器官捐献已成为我国移植供器官的主要来源。目前,器官保护技术在临床实践中应用广泛,对提升移植器官质量,改善移植预后发挥关键作用,但实践中相关技术选择及应用缺乏统一共识。因此亟待建立相关临床实践指南,促进我国器官移植工作更规范、有效、安全地开展。中国医师协会器官移植医师分会、中华医学会外科学分会器官移植学组及中国肝移植注册中心科学委员会组织专家,基于国内外移植器官保护的基础与临床实践,根据牛津循证医学证据分级和GRADE推荐意见系统,重点针对肝脏、肾脏、胰腺、小肠、心脏、肺脏,从器官获取、质量评估、保存液选择及器官保存修复、转运手段等方面,同时对新兴的机械灌注保存、修复技术进行讨论,制定《中国移植器官保护专家共识(2016版)》,为临床选择科学、规范的供器官保护策略提供方案。     

Simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation from organ donation after cardiac death

Background: The concept of organ donation after cardiac death (DCD) historically precedes the current practice of organ procurement from heartbeating donors meeting the brainstem death criteria. DCD has not gained widespread interest, however, due partly to initial fears that transplantation of such organs leads to suboptimal outcome. Methods: Available data on long‐term outcomes following simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplant (SPK) from DCD donors were reviewed, and it was found that the long‐term outcome is comparable to SPK from heartbeating donors. Australia’s first SPK from a DCD donor was performed. Results: The patient received a kidney and a pancreas from a young healthy donor after cardiac death, and at the time of writing was well with functioning grafts. Conclusion: SPK from donation after cardiac death is safe and should continue to be available for patients in need.     

Successful Kidney Transplantation from a Donation After Cardiac Death Donor With an Ileal Conduit

Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for those affected by end-stage renal disease. Consent for organ donation continues to be one of the greatest challenges to transplanting more patients waiting for a life-saving transplant. In an attempt to increase the donor pool for patients on kidney transplant waiting lists, transplant surgeons and physicians have expanded their acceptance criteria to include expanded criteria donors, donation after cardiac death donors, as well as those donors who present unique technical challenges to organ recovery. Here we report a successful kidney transplant from a kidney donor who died from cardiac causes and who previously underwent an ileal conduit for a neurogenic urinary bladder secondary to a spinal cord injury.     

Use of standardized patients to teach medical students about living organ donation

Educators routinely use standardized patients to teach medical students a variety of clinical concepts. Standardized patients have also been used to teach students about medical ethics and deceased organ donation. Not reported before, however, is the use of standardized patients to educate medical students about the ethical issues in living organ donation. It seems important to fill this gap because in the United States, roughly 45% of organ donors are living donors, and these patients will visit physicians throughout their lifespan, not just with the occurrence of donation. This article reports an experience teaching concepts in living donation and transplant ethics to second-year osteopathic medicine students using a standardized patient and supplementary instructional materials (eg, film, panel discussion, reading list). Specifically, a transplant ethics module was created that included an actor portraying a living donor candidate who had a number of case variables pertaining to medical and psychosocial matters. Instructional themes included informed consent, altruism, patient selection criteria, organ vending, and post-donation support systems.     

The Professor Merry Lecture: Endings and beginnings

Organ transplantation has become an established and worthwhile treatment for many otherwise intractable conditions in many countries around the world. For example, over 4000 patients have benefited from heart or lung transplants (or both) since the first heart transplant in Australia or New Zealand was carried out in 1984. However, there is thought to be a worldwide shortage of donors relative to the number of organs needed. Many people, notably many of those involved with situations in which organ donation might be possible, value the opportunity to contribute organs. This has led to interest in expanding the criteria for donation. Standard criteria donation (SCD) involves the formal diagnosis of brain death, and conservative criteria for donor eligibility. Extended criteria donation allows slightly more liberal eligibility criteria, thought acceptable in light of improved results in SCD. In donation after cardiac death (DCD), an alternative approach to increasing the pool of available donors, a formal diagnosis of brain death is not required. The formal diagnosis of brain death is very reliable, but prognosis in less definitive manifestations of severe brain damage is less so, as illustrated by numerous anecdotal reports. There is a tension between providing enough time between withdrawal of treatment and declaration of death for reasonable confidence to be maintained in the process of DCD and the desirability of keeping warm ischemic time to a minimum in the interest of organ survival. In Australia and New Zealand, DCD is undertaken only in the context of planned withdrawal of support in intensive care units (Maastricht category 3). There has been a considered and carefully implemented approach to DCD, and the educational initiatives associated with its introduction may have had incidental benefit to the SCD program as well. It is, nevertheless, important that all involved are cognizant of the practical and ethical issues at stake.     

Allowing HIV‐Positive Organ Donation: Ethical,Legal and Operational Considerations

Case reports of kidney transplantation using HIV‐positive (HIV+) donors in South Africa and advances in the clinical care of HIV+ transplant recipients have drawn attention to the legal prohibition of transplanting organs from HIV+ donors in the United States. For HIV+ transplant candidates, who face high barriers to transplant access, this prohibition violates beneficence by placing an unjustified limitation on the organ supply. However, transplanting HIV+ organs raises nonmaleficence concerns given limited data on recipient outcomes. Informed consent and careful monitoring of outcome data should mitigate these concerns, even in the rare circumstance when an HIV+ organ is intentionally transplanted into an HIV‐negative recipient. For potential donors, the federal ban on transplanting HIV+ organs raises justice concerns. While in practice there are a number of medical criteria that preclude organ donation, only HIV+ status is singled out as a mandated exclusion to donation under the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). Operational objections could be addressed by adapting existing approaches used for organ donors with hepatitis. Center‐specific outcomes should be adjusted for HIV donor and recipient status. In summary, transplant professionals should advocate for eliminating the ban on HIV+ organ donation and funding studies to determine outcomes after transplantation of these organs.     

Organ Donation and Utilization in the United States: 1998–2007

Organ transplantation remains the only life-saving therapy for many patients with organ failure. Despite the work of the Organ Donation and Transplant Collaboratives, and the marked increases in deceased donors early in the effort, deceased donors only rose by 67 from 2006 and the number of living donors declined during the same time period. There continues to be increases in the use of organs from donors after cardiac death (DCD) and expanded criteria donors (ECD). This year has seen a major change in the way organs are offered with increased patient safety measures in those organ offers made by OPOs using DonorNet^©. Unfortunately, the goals of 75% conversion rates, 3.75 organs transplanted per donor, 10% of all donors from DCD sources and 20% growth of transplant center volume have yet to be reached across all donation service areas (DSAs) and transplant centers; however, there are DSAs that have not only met, but exceeded, these goals. Changes in organ preservation techniques took place this year, partly due to expanding organ acceptance criteria and increasing numbers of ECDs and DCDs. Finally, the national transplant environment has changed in response to increased regulatory oversight and new requirements for donation and transplant provider organizations.     

The European experience

This mini‐review on European experiences with tackling the problem of organ shortage for transplantation was based on a literature review of predominantly European publications dealing with the issue of organ donation from deceased donors. The authors tried to identify the most significant factors that have demonstrated to impact on donation rates from deceased donors and subsequent transplant successes. These factors include legislative measures (national laws and European Directives), optimization of the donation process, use of expanded criteria donors, innovative preservation and surgical techniques, organizational efforts, and improved allocation algorithms.     

Improving cadaveric organ donation rates in kidney and liver transplantation in Asia

In the year 2001, cadaveric kidney and liver transplant rates (CadTx) in countries with well-established transplant programs such as the United States and Spain ranged from 51 to 61.9 and 18.7 to 31.3 per million population (pmp), respectively. However, overall kidney and liver transplant rates in Asia are significantly lower at 4.3 and 0.3 pmp, respectively. Improving CadTx rates to meet the needs of organ failure patients poses several unique challenges in Asia. Across Asia, there is a wide disparity in prehospital emergency services and intensive care facilities that allow victims of cerebrovascular accident or trauma to be sent to hospitals for optimal management. Identification of the brain-dead victim in an intensive care setting, donor referral to an organ procurement coordinator/network, making the request for organ donation, and obtaining consent for organ donation from the family are other critical issues that impact on successful cadaveric donation. While affirmative legislation regarding organ donation is existent in most Asian countries, religious, ethnic, and cultural influences on concepts of death and the sanctity of the human body remain major barriers to obtaining consent for cadaveric donation. Although there are no overt objections to CadTx among the major religions of Asia, perceptions to the contrary largely limit consent for organ donation from potential donor families. Development of transportation and communication networks, public and donor hospital education programs, legislative initiatives such as presumed consent, and establishment of effective organ procurement practices are all key initiatives that will improve CadTx rates. Broadening donor criteria as with the use of expanded criteria donors, including non-heart-beating and older donors, may further improve cadaveric donation rates by as much as 20%. Finally, ethical transplant practices that prohibit trade in organs will promote an environment conducive to cadaveric donation. Together with efforts to increase living donor TX transplant rates, it is hoped that these measures will increase the supply of organs so as to meet the needs of organ failure patients in Asia.     

Liver transplantation with a graft taken from a heart transplant patient who was brain-dead

The shortage of organ donors has led to progressive softening of selection criteria for organ donation. We report on hepatic transplantation in a 55-year-old woman with primary biliary cirrhosis, whose donor was a 50-year-old heart transplant recipient who became brain stem dead, due to cerebral bleeding 8 months after transplantation. An orthotopic liver transplantation was performed. The postoperative course was uneventful and the recipient was alive and had normal liver function after a 42-month follow-up. Analysis of the literature included ethical consideration, potential hepatotoxic effects of immunosuppressive drugs and modification of the graft immunogenicity. It confirms that transplanted patients should not be a priori excluded from organ donation.     

Renal transplantation from extended criteria cadaveric donors: problems and perspectives overview.

The critical shortage of organs available for renal transplantation has led to the consideration of alternative strategies for increasing the donor pool. Recently, the cadaveric kidney donor pool extended to donors who might have been deemed unsuitable in early times, leading to the concept of marginal donors and more recently to the notion of expanded criteria donors. Such organs are eligible for organ donation but, because of extreme age and other clinical characteristics, are expected to produce allograft at risk for diminished post-transplant function. Thus, the challenge is now to reduce the difference between graft outcome from patients grafted with marginal and 'optimal' donors. This implies appropriate transplantation strategies during pre-, peri- and post-transplantation phases including reduction of cold ischemia time, recipient selection, adaptation of immunosuppressive drug regimens, increase in nephron mass by dual kidney transplantation, and improvement in the graft selection process using histological criteria. This review summarizes current definition of a marginal donor and provides some guidance for clinical management of such transplant.