Profile of Effective Donors for Heart Transplantation: Experience of a Brazilian Center

Abstract

BackgroundBrazil’s transplant network is a consolidated, worldwide-recognized program, with about 96% of heart transplantations (HTs) financed by its Unified Health System. It is known that the number of HTs has risen in the past few years, but it still does not meet the demand. This study aims to characterize the profile of the heart donors of a Brazilian center and ascertain the factors contributing to the increase in number of HTs. Materials and methodsThis is a cross-sectional and analytical study, developed between 2012 and 2018 at a Brazilian transplant center. ResultsThere were 210 donations for HT in this period. The median age of donors in years (range) was 33 (24–40), and the donors were 15.5 years younger than the recipients (P value < .001). One hundred forty-two donors (67.6%) were male, 98 (46.7%) were mullato, and 115 (54.8%) had cranioencephalic trauma as the cause of brain death. The distance from the transplant center to the organ procurement area was short in 183 (87.1%) cases, enabling a allograft ischemic time with a median of 125 minutes. There was a relevant association between donor age and cause of brain death (P < .001), sex and cause of brain death (P < .001), and organ procurement area and allograft ischemic time (P < .001). Hospitals that provide urgent and emergency care served as sources for a larger number of organ donations. ConclusionsThis study concluded that the profile of most donors for HT include young adult mullato men who were victims of cranioencephalic trauma. In addition, these donors had few comorbidities and a median age of 33 years.