Israel Medical Association Journal

Background: Strategies aimed at expanding the organ donor pool have been sought, which has resulted in renewed interest in donation after cardio-circulatory death (DCCD), also known as non-heart beating donors (NHBDs).

Objectives: To describe the derivation and implementation of a protocol for DCCD in Israel and report on the results with the first six cases. 

Methods: After receiving approval from an extraordinary ethics committee, Ministry of Health, the steering committee of the National Transplant Center defined and reached consensus on the unique challenges presented by a DCCD program. These protocol included medical aspects (construction of a clinical pathway), social and ethical aspects (presentation of the protocol at a public gathering(, legal/ethical aspects (consent for organ preservation procedures being either implied if the donor had signed an organ donor card or received directly from a surrogate decision maker), and logistical aspects (pilot study confined to kidney retrieval and to four medical centers). Data regarding organ donors and recipients were recorded.

Results: The protocol was implemented at four medical centers. Consent for organ donation was received from four of the six potential donors meeting criteria for inclusion, in all cases, from a surrogate decision maker. Of the eight kidneys retrieved, only four were suitable for transplantation, which was carried out successfully for four recipients. Graft function remained normal in all cases in 6–12 months follow-up. 

Conclusions: The DCCD program was successfully implemented and initial results are encouraging, suggesting that expansion of the program might further aid in decreasing the gap between needs and availability of organs.

 

Background: Arterial involvement in Behçet's syndrome is rare. Aneurysms are common among the arterial lesions, affecting various arteries but mostly the abdominal aorta. Surgical interposition graft insertion is the treatment of choice for large aneurysms. However, vasculitis in these patients is the reason for the notorious surgical complications that result in up to 50% false aneurysms in anastomotic sites. Recently, endovascular repair for abdominal aortic aneurysms has been established.

Objectives: To learn more about vascular Behçet and, specifically, to compare the results of surgical treatment and endovascular repair of AAA[1] in patients with Behçet's syndrome.

Methods: We retrieved the medical records of all 53 patients with Behçet disease admitted to Rambam Medical Center during the years 1985 and 2001 and analysed the results and follow-up of open surgery versus endovascular repair of AAA in patients with known Behçet's syndrome.

Results: Of the 53 patients with Behçet's disease 18 had vascular manifestations (34%). AAAs were encountered in 8 patients (15%) and 5 were treated. Open surgery (group 1), under general anesthesia, lasted less than 3 hours with an average aortic clamping time of 34 minutes (range 26–41 min) after which the patients were transferred to the intensive care unit for 24–48 hours. Endovascular treatment (group 2), although lasting about the same time without the need for intensive care, necessitated contrast media and fluoroscopy. The length of hospital stay was considerably shorter for patients after endovascular repair compared to open surgery (3 days vs. 6 days). Combined mortality and morbidity was higher in patients who underwent open surgery compared to endovascular repair (one death, one major amputation and three anastomotic pseudoaneurysms compared to one temporary contrast-induced nephropathy).

Conclusions: Vasculo-Behçet patients with AAA are better candidates for endovascular treatment than atherosclerotic patients. Combined morbidity (especially anastomotic pseudoaneurysms) and mortality of Behçet patients after endovascular repair is considerably lower than after open surgery.

Background: Over a 12 month period, the Israel Transplant Center doubled the number of donors by assigning a nurse coordinator to each of 22 hospitals around the country and by using kidneys from elderly donors.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of our "marginal donors" policy on the results immediately following transplantation.

Methods: Between October 1997 and September 1998, 140 cadaveric kidney transplantations from 72 donors were performed in Israel. We defined two groups of recipients: patients with immediate graft function and patients with either delayed graft function requiring >1 week of dialysis post-transplant or with primary graft non-function. We compared the following parameters between groups: donor and recipient age and gender, cause of donor’s death, length of stay in the intensive care unit, vasopressor dosage and creatinine levels before harvesting, cold ischemic time, and the number of recipient grafts.

Results: There were 102 recipients (72.8%) with immediate graft function and 38 with either PNF (n=13, 9.3%) or DGF (n=25, 17.9%). On regression analysis, donor age >50 year and retransplantation were significant risk factors for PNF or DGF (odds ratio 4.4 and 2.8, respectively). Of the 56 kidneys from donors >50 years old, 21 (37.5%) developed either PNF (n=9) or DGF (n=12).

Conclusions: We conclude that kidneys from donors over age 50 are at increased risk for graft non-function or delayed function. Better assessment of functional capacity of kidneys from “aged” donors may help to choose appropriate donors from that pool.

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PNF = primary graft non-function

DGF = delayed graft function