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Families of organ donors play an important role in the deceased organ donation process. The aim of this study was to gain insight into donor family care by creating an inventory of practice in various European countries. A questionnaire about donor family care and contact between donor families and recipients was developed. Representatives of the organ donor professionals of 15 European countries responded (94%). The donor coordinator plays a key role in care for the donor family. All countries provide information about the donation results to the families, although diminished due to privacy laws. Anonymous written contact between donor families and recipients is possible in almost all countries and direct contact in only a few. Remembrance ceremonies exist in most countries. Half of the respondents thought the aftercare could improve. This first inventory shows that differences exist between countries, depending on the organisation of the donation process, the law and the different role of the professionals. Direct contact between donor families and recipients is rarely supported by the donation organisation. To date there has been limited research about the experience of donor family aftercare and we would urge all donation organisations to consider this as a priority area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deemed consent for organ donation has long been discussed as a potential solution to the shortage of organs for transplantation, with several countries having implemented it. In Great Britain, Wales was the first nation to introduce such a system, having done so in 2015. Now, the other two nations are following suit. In this paper, I compare the approaches of England and Scotland in moving to systems of deemed consent for organ donation. After outlining both sets of legislation, I focus on three points on which the two nations differ. First, the role of those close to the deceased in the consent process and the extent to which clinicians are required to consult them ahead of consent being deemed. Second, the role of government ministers in ensuring widespread public awareness. Third, the ways in which the two nations responded to the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to the implementation of deemed consent. I conclude that on all three points, the Scottish approach is preferable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Donation after circulatory death (DCD) has become an accepted practice in many countries and remains a focus of intense interest in the transplant community. The present study is aimed at providing a description of the current situation of DCD in European countries. Specific questionnaires were developed to compile information on DCD practices, activities and post‐transplant outcomes. Thirty‐five countries completed the survey. DCD is practiced in 18 countries: eight have both controlled DCD (cDCD) and uncontrolled DCD (uDCD) programs, 4 only cDCD and 6 only uDCD. All these countries have legally binding and/or nonbinding texts to regulate the practice of DCD. The no‐touch period ranges from 5 to 30 min. There are variations in ante and post mortem interventions used for the practice of cDCD. During 2008–2016, the highest DCD activity was described in the United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Data on post‐transplant outcomes of patients who receive DCD donor kidneys show better results with grafts obtained from cDCD versus uDCD donors. In conclusion, DCD is becoming increasingly accepted and performed in Europe, importantly contributing to the number of organs available and providing acceptable post‐transplantation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report deals with organ retrieval procedures in both controlled and uncontrolled DCD, looking at the ethical, legal, and psychosocial aspects during the different phases of the process. A recently published report by the UK Donation Ethics Committee ( UKDEC) has served as an important reference document to outline the steps in the controlled DCD patient-donor pathway (Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. UK Donation Ethics Committee. An ethical framework for controlled donation after circulatory death. December 2011). For uncontrolled DCD, the UKDEC pathway description was adapted. At the 6th International Conference in Organ Donation held in Paris in 2013, an established expert European Working Group reviewed the UKDEC reports, which were then considered along with the available published literature. Along this pathway, the crucial ethical, legal, and psychosocial aspects have been flagged, and relevant recommendations have been formulated based on a consensus of the working group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living donor kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment for patients suffering from end-stage renal disease. To alleviate the shortage of kidney donors, many advances have been made to improve the utilization of living donors deemed incompatible with their intended recipient. The most prominent of these advances is kidney paired donation ( KPD), which matches incompatible patient-donor pairs to facilitate a kidney exchange. This review discusses the various approaches to matching and allocation in KPD. In particular, it focuses on the underlying principles of matching and allocation approaches, the combination of KPD with other strategies such as ABO incompatible transplantation, the organization of KPD, and important future challenges. As the transplant community strives to balance quantity and equity of transplants to achieve the best possible outcomes, determining the right long-term allocation strategy becomes increasingly important. In this light, challenges include making full use of the various modalities that are now available through integrated and optimized matching software, encouragement of transplant centers to fully participate, improving transplant rates by focusing on the expected long-run number of transplants, and selecting uniform allocation criteria to facilitate international pools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of medical research. They include "Preemptive Kidney Transplantation - More Than 700 Cases Revisited at a Single Center," "Human Leukocyte Antigen-G Predicts Allograft Tolerance in Heart Transplant Patients," and "Living Donor Living Transplantation: A European Liver Transplant Registry (ELTR) Report on 1942 Cases."

Presents several abstracts. "Expanded Criteria Donor (ECD): Is a Cluster Definition for the Liver Beneficial?," by Carl-Ludwig Fischer-Froehlich and Werner Lauchart; "Efficacy of Organ Recipients Back Screening," by Olivier Cornu, Christian Delloye, Beatrice Pelleriaux, Vincent Lambert and Katy Unger; "Profile of Australian Donors: A 10 Year Comparison," by Tina A. Coco.