C © 2008 The Authors Journal compilation C © 2008 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2008.02231.x Early Lung Transplantation Success Utilizing Controlled Donation After Cardiac

Donation-after cardiac death (DCD) donor organs have potential to significantly alleviate the shortage of transplantable lungs. However, only limited data so far describes DCD lung transplantation (LTx) techniques and results. This study aims to describe the Alfred Hos-pital’s early and intermediate outcomes following DCD donor LTx. Following careful experimentation and con-sultation DCD guidelines were created to utilize Maas-tricht category III lung donors from either the ICU or operating room(OR), with a warm ischemic time(WIT) of <60 min. Between May 2006 and December 2007, 22 referred DCD donors led to 11 attempted retrievals after withdrawal, resulting in 8 actual bilateral LTx (2 donors did not arrest in prescribed period and 1 donor had nonacceptable lungs). ICU WIT = 38.4 min (range 20–54, OR WIT = 12.7 min (11–15), p < 0.05. Post-LTx, 1 pulmonary hypertensive patient required ECMO for PGD3. The mean group pO2/FiO2 ratio at 24 hours was 307.7 (240–507) with an ICU stay of 9.5 days (2–21) and ward stay of 21.5 days (11–76). All 8 survive at a mean of 311 days (10–573) with good performance status and lung function. In conclusion, the use of Maastricht cat-egory III lungs for human LTx is associated with accept-able early clinical outcomes. Key words: Donation referral, donor management, early graft function, lung transplantation, nonbeating heart dono