[Lung donor profile in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, in 2006].
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the rate at which lungs available for transplantation in the State of São Paulo in 2006 were utilized and to determine the lung donor profile in the same period.


METHODS
A retrospective study of 497 clinical charts of lung tissue donors from January to December of 2006.


RESULTS
According to the clinical charts, lungs were not offered for transplant in 149 cases (30%), which were therefore excluded from the study. Among the 348 lung donors eligible for inclusion in the study, the mean age was 37.4 +/- 16.1 years, and 56.9% were males. The main causes of brain death among the donors were stroke (in 40.5%), skull-brain trauma (in 34.2%) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (in 10.9%). The great majority of these lung donors (90.5%) received vasoactive agents, and 13.5% presented cardiopulmonary arrest. The mean donor leukocyte count was 15,008 +/- 6,467 cells/mm(3), 67.8% of the donors received anti-bacterial agents, and 26.1% presented lung infection. Nearly 40% of the lung donors presented chest X-ray abnormalities. Only 4.9% of the lung donors were accepted, representing 28 lungs (allograft utilization rate of 4%). The causes for donor exclusion were gas exchange alterations (in 30.1%), infection (in 23.7%) and distance (in 10.9%).


CONCLUSIONS
The lung utilization rate in the State of São Paulo is low when compared to mean rates worldwide. In addition, more than half of the donor pool was excluded due to altered gas exchange or pulmonary infection. The combination of better care of the potential donor and more flexible selection criteria could increase allograft utilization.
Fernandes
Paulo Manuel Pêgo
PM
Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. paulopego@incor.usp.br
Samano
Marcos Naoyuki
MN
Junqueira
Jader Joel Machado
JJ
Waisberg
Daniel Reis
DR
Noleto
Gustavo Sousa
GS
Jatene
Fabio Biscegli
FB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D046148:Donor Selection / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008168:Lung; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014019:Tissue Donors; D055815:Young Adult