TY - JOUR
T1 - Testing deceased organ donors for infections
T2 - An organ procurement organization survey
AU - Theodoropoulos, Nicole M.
AU - Greenwald, Melissa A.
AU - Chin-Hong, Peter
AU - Ison, Michael G.
N1 - Funding Information:
An IRB‐approved survey (Appendix S1 in Supporting Information) containing 40 questions with branching logic was sent out to medical directors, Chief Executive Officers (CEO) and Chief Operating Officers (COO) at all 57 U.S. OPOs. The Association of Organ Procurement Organizations reviewed our survey and approved its distribution. The survey was sent using REDCap and 2 weekly reminder emails were sent to those who did not respond. The survey was first sent to medical directors on 11/4/2019, to COOs of nonresponding OPOs on 12/5/2019 and to CEOs of nonresponding OPOs on 2/14/2020. The survey results were anonymous. We used REDCap for descriptive data analysis. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under award number UL1TR000161. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Funding Information:
This work was presented in part at the American Transplant Congress, 2020. We are grateful for the cooperation of the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations and the participating Organ Procurement Organizations and all the organ and tissue donors and their families for giving the gift of life and the gift of knowledge by their generous donations. Specifically, we thank Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency, Donor Network of Arizona, Donor Network West, Sierra Donor Services, LifeSharing, Donor Alliance, Inc, New England Donor Services, Washington Regional Transplant Community, TransLife, Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency, LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services, LifeLink of Florida, LifeLink of Georgia, Legacy of Life Hawai’i, Iowa Donor Network, Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, Indiana Donor Network, The Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland, Gift of Life Michigan, LifeSource, Mid-America Transplant, Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency, Midwest Transplant Network, LifeShare Carolinas, Carolina Donor Services, Live On Nebraska, NJ Sharing Network, Nevada Donor Network, Center for Donation & Transplant, Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network, Live On NY, Lifebanc, Life Connection of Ohio, Lifeline of Ohio, LifeCenter Organ Donor Network, LifeShare of Oklahoma, Pacific Northwest Transplant Bank, Gift of Life Donor Program, Center for Organ Recovery & Education, Mid-South Transplant Foundation, LifeGift, Texas Organ Sharing Alliance, Southwest Transplant Alliance, DonorConnect, LifeCenter Northwest, Versiti and UW Organ and Tissue Donation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons
PY - 2021/5
Y1 - 2021/5
N2 - Organ procurement organizations (OPO) test potential deceased organ donors for infectious diseases required by policy, but many also perform testing for additional infections. The current state of donor testing in the United States is unknown. We sent an IRB approved survey to all 57 U.S. OPOs using REDCap. Descriptive statistics were performed. From the 57 OPOs, we received 46 (80.7%) unique responses with all 11 United Network of Organ Sharing regions represented. Forty of 46 (87%) OPO respondents consulted an Infectious Diseases physician when needed. Eighteen of 46 (39%) tested for West Nile virus (WNV) and 17 of 18 (94%) tested year-round. Eleven of 46 (23.9%) tested for Strongyloides infection while 17 of 46 (37%) tested for Chagas disease. All OPOs performed prospective nucleic acid testing (NAT) for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C on all donors. OPO testing of additional infections has increased since prior surveys but remains variable. Standardization of organ donor infectious diseases evaluation should be considered.
AB - Organ procurement organizations (OPO) test potential deceased organ donors for infectious diseases required by policy, but many also perform testing for additional infections. The current state of donor testing in the United States is unknown. We sent an IRB approved survey to all 57 U.S. OPOs using REDCap. Descriptive statistics were performed. From the 57 OPOs, we received 46 (80.7%) unique responses with all 11 United Network of Organ Sharing regions represented. Forty of 46 (87%) OPO respondents consulted an Infectious Diseases physician when needed. Eighteen of 46 (39%) tested for West Nile virus (WNV) and 17 of 18 (94%) tested year-round. Eleven of 46 (23.9%) tested for Strongyloides infection while 17 of 46 (37%) tested for Chagas disease. All OPOs performed prospective nucleic acid testing (NAT) for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C on all donors. OPO testing of additional infections has increased since prior surveys but remains variable. Standardization of organ donor infectious diseases evaluation should be considered.
KW - clinical research/practice
KW - donors and donation: deceased
KW - donors and donation: donor evaluation
KW - donors and donation: donor-derived infections
KW - infectious disease
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U2 - 10.1111/ajt.16552
DO - 10.1111/ajt.16552
M3 - Article
C2 - 33621430
AN - SCOPUS:85102250839
SN - 1600-6135
VL - 21
SP - 1924
EP - 1930
JO - American Journal of Transplantation
JF - American Journal of Transplantation
IS - 5
ER -
