Care of the Potential Organ Donor

Organ transplantation often depends on obtaining functioning organs from a donor who has recently died. This review presents a structured approach to management of the care of the brain-dead donor so as to achieve the greatest chance of a successful outcome in the recipient of the organs. Hypotension, hypothermia, diabetes insipidus, and cardiac dysfunction are common challenges to management. Brain death affects both hormone production and physiological responses in the donor. Organ transplantation often depends on obtaining functioning organs from a donor who has recently died. This review presents a structured approach to management of the care of the brain-dead donor. Even in the face of the urgent need for transplantable organs, there continues to be a disparity between the number of potential organ donors and that of actual donors. 1 Reducing this disparity is one means of addressing the current shortage of organs. However, for this strategy to be effective, it is mandatory to retrieve organs that offer the greatest likelihood of successful outcomes for the recipients. This strategy necessitates the optimal care of the potential donor, that is, even after brain death has occurred. 2 In this review we present a structured approach to the key issues for the clinicians involved . . .