Gonzalez Cohens FDR, Gonzalez FM. Critical care specialists, the missing link in organ procurement for transplantation. World J Crit Care Med 2024; 13(2): 90274 [PMID: 38855269 DOI: 10.5492/wjccm.v13.i2.90274]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Fernando M Gonzalez, MD, Full Professor, Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Salvador 486, Providencia, Santiago 7500922, Chile. fgonzalf@uc.cl
Research Domain of This Article
Critical Care Medicine
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Crit Care Med. Jun 9, 2024; 13(2): 90274 Published online Jun 9, 2024. doi: 10.5492/wjccm.v13.i2.90274
Critical care specialists, the missing link in organ procurement for transplantation
Francisca Del Rocio Gonzalez Cohens, Fernando M Gonzalez
Francisca Del Rocio Gonzalez Cohens, Web Intelligence Centre, Faculty of Physics and Mathematical Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8370397, Chile
Fernando M Gonzalez, Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 7500922, Chile
Author contributions: Gonzalez FM shaped the structure of the manuscript, searched for literature and wrote the first draft; Gonzalez Cohens FDR searched for literature to complement what was written, added new ideas, and restructured for fluency, as well as revised English spelling twice.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fernando M Gonzalez, MD, Full Professor, Department of Nephrology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Salvador 486, Providencia, Santiago 7500922, Chile. fgonzalf@uc.cl
Received: November 28, 2023 Revised: January 23, 2024 Accepted: May 11, 2024 Published online: June 9, 2024 Processing time: 187 Days and 18.3 Hours
Abstract
The procurement process for organ donation begins with the identification of potential organ donors in emergency or critical care units (CCU), followed by their clinical evaluation, diagnostic procedures, and therapeutic interventions, mostly conducted in CCUs. It concludes with the request for organ donation and, if accepted, the retrieval of organs. Despite most interventions occurring in detection units, there has been a neglect of the strategic role played by critical care specialists (CCS) in managing and caring for brain-dead or near-brain-death patients. Questions arise: Are they willing to undertake this responsibility? Do they fully comprehend the nature of organ procurement? Are they aware of the specific interventions required to maintain possible organ donors in optimal physiological condition? Our objective is to examine the role of CCS in organ procurement and propose ways to enhance it, ultimately aiming to increase and enhance organ donation rates.
Core Tip: Procurement organ donation is the key issue for organ transplantation. Most possible organ donors stay in critical care units, making their physicians a strategic partner to manage those patients, cross talk with organ local procurement coordinator and enhance all the process of organ donation.
