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Worldwide 715 482 patients have received a lifesaving organ transplant since 1988. During this time, there have been advances in donor management and in the perioperative care of the organ transplant recipient, resulting in marked improvements in long-term survival. Although the number of organs recovered has increased year after year, a greater demand has produced a critical organ shortage. The majority of organs are from deceased donors; however, some are not suitable for transplantation. Some of this loss is due to management of the donor. Improved donor care may increase the number of available organs and help close the existing gap in supply and demand. In order to address this concern, The Organ Donation and Transplantation Alliance, the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, and the Transplant and Critical Care Committees of the American Society of Anesthesiologists have formulated evidence-based guidelines, which include a call for greater involvement and oversight by anesthesiologists and critical care specialists, as well as uniform reporting of data during organ procurement and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

West Nile virus (WNV) is the most common domestic arbovirus in the United States. During 2018, WNV was transmitted through solid organ transplantation to 2 recipients who had neuroinvasive disease develop. Because of increased illness and death in transplant recipients, organ procurement organizations should consider screening during region-specific WNV transmission months.

Donation after circulatory death (DCD) liver allografts remain underutilized. Inconsistent processes for DCD procurement may contribute to allograft discard. Optimal surgical and organ procurement organization (OPO) practices for DCD liver recovery should be developed and adopted. DCD practice surveys were distributed to transplant surgeons and OPO leadership. DCD liver recovery best practices were assembled based on survey data, literature review, and subject-matter expert consensus opinion. Data were obtained from transplant surgeons (n = 188) and OPO leadership (n = 48 OPOs). Surgeons preferred attending physician presence at recovery (72.4%); while only 27.7% of OPOs require this. Pre-withdrawal communication huddle (Surgeons: 88.7%; OPOs: 93.8%) and administration of pre-withdrawal heparin (Surgeons: 90.6%; OPOs: 84.8%) are widely accepted. Surgical preference for withdrawal of support is in the operating room (89.3%); OPO practice varies dependent upon hospital and family requirements. Functional donor warm ischemic time (fDWIT) start time is variable, while fDWIT end time is agreed upon as initiation of aortic flush by surgeons (81%) and OPOs (81%). DCD liver recovery practices including mandatory communication huddle, pre-withdrawal heparin administration, and clearly defined start and end of fDWIT should be implemented nationally. Creating a set of best practices for DCD recovery guidelines is necessary for improving DCD liver utilization., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Introduction: Much of the higher risk for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in African American individuals relates to ancestry-specific variation in the apolipoprotein L1 gene ( APOL1 ). Relative to kidneys from European American deceased-donors, kidneys from African American deceased-donors have shorter allograft survival and African American living-kidney donors more often develop ESKD. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-sponsored APOL1 Long-term Kidney Transplantation Outcomes Network (APOLLO) is prospectively assessing kidney allograft survival from donors with recent African ancestry based on donor and recipient APOL1 genotypes., Methods: APOLLO will evaluate outcomes from 2614 deceased kidney donor-recipient pairs, as well as additional living-kidney donor-recipient pairs and unpaired deceased-donor kidneys., Results: The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), Association of Organ Procurement Organizations, American Society of Transplantation, American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, and nearly all U.S. kidney transplant programs, organ procurement organizations (OPOs), and histocompatibility laboratories are participating in this observational study. APOLLO employs a central institutional review board (cIRB) and maintains voluntary partnerships with OPOs and histocompatibility laboratories. A Community Advisory Council composed of African American individuals with a personal or family history of kidney disease has advised the NIH Project Office and Steering Committee since inception. UNOS is providing data for outcome analyses., Conclusion: This article describes unique aspects of the protocol, design, and performance of APOLLO. Results will guide use of APOL1 genotypic data to improve the assessment of quality in deceased-donor kidneys and could increase numbers of transplanted kidneys, reduce rates of discard, and improve the safety of living-kidney donation., (© 2019 International Society of Nephrology. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The ability to replace organs and tissues on demand could save or improve millions of lives each year globally and create public health benefits on par with curing cancer. Unmet needs for organ and tissue preservation place enormous logistical limitations on transplantation, regenerative medicine, drug discovery, and a variety of rapidly advancing areas spanning biomedicine. A growing coalition of researchers, clinicians, advocacy organizations, academic institutions, and other stakeholders has assembled to address the unmet need for preservation advances, outlining remaining challenges and identifying areas of underinvestment and untapped opportunities. Meanwhile, recent discoveries provide proofs of principle for breakthroughs in a family of research areas surrounding biopreservation. These developments indicate that a new paradigm, integrating multiple existing preservation approaches and new technologies that have flourished in the past 10 years, could transform preservation research. Capitalizing on these opportunities will require engagement across many research areas and stakeholder groups. A coordinated effort is needed to expedite preservation advances that can transform several areas of medicine and medical science.

Polyurethane synthetic trileaflet valves were compared with commercial prostheses in vitro, in a pulse duplicator using ultrasound to characterize the flow velocities and patterns. Flow-pressure drop behavior was in the middle range of other prosthetic valves. Diastolic regurgitant jets were located by color Doppler ultrasound, and there appeared to be some leakage through the leaflet fold at the commissure. Nevertheless, the closing volumes and closed valve leakage volumes were, on average, lower than other prosthetic valves. Systolic 20 Hz spectral oscillations detected with pulsed Doppler and continuous wave Doppler were attributed to leaflet flutter in the open valve.

To study the evolution of pericardial inflammation, we have developed a model of pericarditis in sheep by surgically injecting heat-killed staphylococci and Freund's adjuvant into the pericardial cavity under sterile conditions. The pericarditis evolved through the following phases: 1) inflammatory response, 2) mesothelial cell injury and desquamation, and 3) fibrotic phase. At 3-24 hr there was increased microvascular permeability, which resulted in the exudation of fluid, neutrophils, macrophages, and fibrin into the pericardial cavity and the pericardial interstitium. By 72 hr, large numbers of inflammatory cells were aggregated on the mesothelial surfaces and dispersed throughout the pericardial cavity, either as free-floating cells or located between strands of fibrin. At 6 days, fibrinolysis was apparent along the mesothelial surfaces; and newly formed collagen fibrils were deposited throughout the interstitial spaces and among the aggregated cells. These fibrils provided a matrix for the growth of new blood and lymphatic vessels into new connective tissue on both parietal and visceral pericardial surfaces. At 2 weeks, intrapericardial fibrosis had produced focal adhesions between the pericardial surfaces. At 1 month, extensive areas of the pericardial cavity were obliterated. By 9 months, there was a marked reduction in the numbers of cells and blood vessels and increased deposition of collagen and elastic fibers. The intrapericardial injection of heat-killed staphylococci and adjuvant provides a reproducible animal model to study the time course of pericardial inflammation.

More than 300 epicardial Doppler color flow mapping studies on 23 different types of clinical and preclinical valves were performed after implantation in the mitral position in sheep. The transducers were placed directly on the heart to obtain the greatest possible resolution. Studies were performed in each animal under different hemodynamic conditions by varying heart rate and cardiac output. Eighty-six valves were studied late (20 to 52 weeks), whereas the remainder were studied early (0 to 10 days) after operation. The valves included 3 types of ball and cage valves, 3 types of disc and cage valves, 7 types of tilting disc valves, 1 type of bileaflet hemidisc mechanical valve, 13 types of porcine aortic valves and 5 types of bovine pericardial valves. The results of these studies were compared with those obtained in 40 studies of 20 native mitral valves. Doppler color velocity/flow profiles were imaged in real time with simultaneous electrocardiographic gating; the aortic flow was also displayed for the timing of velocity/flow events. Native normal mitral valves had no in-orifice flow disturbances and laminar low velocity/flow directed toward the left ventricular apex. Ball and cage and disc and cage valves had high velocity peripheral jets and vortices of velocity/flow reversals distal to the occluders. Tilting disc valves had differing velocity/flow patterns determined by their orientation in the mitral anulus. Bileaflet hemidisc valves had three jets, which decayed 1.5 cm downstream. Porcine aortic and bovine pericardial bioprosthetic valves had high velocity, turbulent, nonaxisymmetric jets (more severe for the latter).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Damage to the posterolateral wall of the left ventricle was found in eight of approximately 700 sheep undergoing mitral valvular replacement as part of animal model studies of bioprosthetic valves. The damage consisted of left ventricular aneurysms in five animals, subacute rupture of the left ventricle in one, acute left ventricular laceration in one, and endocardial scarring in one. Six of the eight bioprostheses were bovine pericardial valves, including five low-profile valves and one standard valve; of the two porcine bioprostheses, one was intentionally oversized and the other was a low-profile supra-annular valve. In each of these animals the damage appeared to have been caused by contact between the most posterior strut of the bioprosthesis and the left ventricular wall.

A description is presented of the gross anatomic, histologic, and scanning electron microscopic features of cuspal abrasions, perforations, and tears caused by excessively long ends of braided sutures in bioprosthetic cardiac valves implanted in the mitral position in sheep. These lesions are produced as consequences of contact between the ends of the sutures and the inflow surfaces of the bioprosthetic cusps, leading to a process of surface erosion that progresses to actual perforation of the cusps. The perforation has the appearance of a crater, the wider end of which faces the inflow surface and the walls of which are formed by broken ends of collagen fibrils. Suture perforations can extend to form tears that involve the free edge of the cusp and result in hemodynamically important regurgitation. Therefore, care must be taken to avoid leaving excessively long suture ends during the implantation of bioprosthetic cardiac valves.

To determine whether Doppler color flow mapping could be used to quantify changing levels of regurgitant flow and define the technical variables that influence the size of color flow images of regurgitant jets, nine stable hemodynamic states of mitral insufficiency were studied in four open chest sheep with regurgitant orifices of known size. The magnitude of mitral regurgitation was altered by phenylephrine infusion. Several technical variables, including the type of color flow instrument (Irex Aloka 880 versus Toshiba SSH65A), transducer frequency, pulse repetition frequency and gain level, were studied. Significant increases in the color flow area, but not in color jet width measurements, were seen after phenylephrine infusion for each regurgitant orifice. For matched levels of mitral regurgitation, an increase in gain resulted in a 125% increase in color flow area. An increase in the pulse repetition and transducer frequencies resulted in a 36% reduction and a 28% increase in color flow area, respectively. Jet area for matched regurgitant volumes was larger on the Toshiba compared with the Aloka instrument (5.2 +/- 3.1 versus 3.2 +/- 1.2 cm2, p less than 0.05). Color flow imaging of mitral regurgitant jets is dependent on various technical factors and the magnitude of regurgitation. Once these are standardized for a given patient, the measurement of color flow jet area may provide a means of making serial estimates of the severity of mitral insufficiency.

Morphologic, chemical, and hemodynamic studies were made of eight prototype polyurethane trileaflet cardiac valve prostheses that had been implanted in juvenile sheep for 17 to 21 weeks in the mitral position. Calcification of the polyurethane leaflet surfaces was the principal finding. Quantitative chemical analyses revealed calcium values with a mean of 42.7 +/- 21 mg/gm dry weight of leaflet. Morphologically, two distinct types of calcification were observed: One was associated with the polyurethane surface or the interface between the leaflet surface and microthrombi or fibrous sheaths; the other was characterized by calcification associated with degenerated cells within thrombotic material and the fibrous sheath. These morphologic findings were in accord with the results of hemodynamic performance studies indicating that these heart valve prostheses had become both stenotic and regurgitant.

The effectiveness of the T6 process (surfactant treatment) to decrease calcification of porcine aortic valvular (PAV) and bovine pericardial (BPV) bioprostheses was investigated. Morphologic and biochemical studies were made of standard and T6-treated PAVs and BPVs that had been implanted for a mean of 20 weeks in the tricuspid position in young sheep. Gross, radiographic, histologic and ultrastructural observations showed that the calcific deposits were less severe in T6-treated (n = 9) than in standard PAVs (n = 7), but were similar in severity in T6-treated (n = 6) and standard BPVs (n = 7). This was confirmed by results of quantitative analyses for calcium in half of each cusp of each explanted valve. Because these results showed large differences in standard deviations in the 4 groups of sheep, natural logarithmic and square-root transformations were used for statistical comparisons. The mean calcium content (milligrams of calcium per gram of dry tissue) of standard PAVs (111 +/- 53) was greater than that of T6-treated PAVs (11 +/- 3) (p = 0.0037). The calcium content of T6-treated PAVs was lower than that of T6-treated BPVs (96 +/- 26) (p = 0.031). However, the calcium content of standard BPVs (35 +/- 13) was not different from that of T6-treated BPVs or standard PAVs. Thus, under conditions of relatively short-term implantation in the sheep model, the T6 process is useful for decreasing the extent of calcification in PAVs, but not in BPVs.

Several preimplantation processes have been shown to inhibit the calcification of pieces of porcine aortic valves and of bovine parietal pericardium implanted subcutaneously in rats. To investigate the effectiveness of these processes in modifying the calcification of bioprosthetic valves implanted in an intracardiac position, mitral and tricuspid valve replacements were performed in young sheep. Bioprosthetic valves treated with the following preimplantation processes were studied: 1) surfactants, including sodium dodecyl sulfate, polysorbate-80, Triton X-100 and N-lauryl sarcosine; 2) covalently bound aminohydroxypropane diphosphonic acid; 3) toluidine blue; and 4) incorporation of polyacrylamide into valvular tissues. Quantitative calcium analyses showed that only the surfactants substantially reduced calcification of bioprostheses implanted in intracardiac positions. This effect was evident only in porcine aortic valvular bioprostheses, and not in pericardial bioprostheses. Triton X-100 and N-lauryl sarcosine not only reduced calcification but also induced alterations that decreased the durability of the valves. Toluidine blue decreased calcification to a degree that was statistically significant but not biologically important, while polyacrylamide incorporation and diphosphonate binding increased calcification. Thus, data regarding anticalcification treatments obtained from subcutaneous implantation studies in small animal models should be interpreted cautiously and validated by studies with intracardiac valvular implantation in large animals.