title: Organ retrieval from brain-dead patients by a single organ procurement center in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The majority of transplantations depend solely on cadaveric organs. In recent years, special focus has been directed toward brain-dead patients in Iran, but it seems that there is limited information regarding the characteristics of cadaveric organ donation in our country.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a retrospective analysis of data of our Organ Procurement Unit (OPU), which is one of the most active organ procurement units in Iran. We incorporated the data on all organ donations from brain-dead patients between 2004 and 2008 into the present study. Demographic characteristics of the patients along with data regarding brain death and organ donation were extracted from already registered data on patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 93 brain-dead patients registered in the database of the OPU, organs were retrieved from 85% (n = 79). Out of the 14 patients from whom no organ was retrieved, the cause for this failure was death before donation in 85% (n = 12). The numbers of donated organs varied between zero and six (mean +/- standard deviation = 3.1 +/- 1.7). The most donated organs in terms of frequency and count were: right kidney (n = 68; 73.1%), left kidney (n = 67; 72%), liver (n = 63; 67.7%), heart (n = 40; 43%), pancreas (n = 5; 5.4%), and lung (n = 4; 4.3%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall organ retrieval rate from brain-dead patients by this OPU was comparable to that of developed countries; however, we still believe we can improve this rate/scale.
authors.affiliation: Lung Transplantation Research Center, National Research Institute of TB and Lung Disease, Shaheed Beheshti Medical University, Tehran, Iran. katynajafi@gmail.com
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Najafizadeh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abbasi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ghorbani
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Radpei
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kashani
authors.forename: Z H
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Ahmadi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hamidinia
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moghani-Lankarani
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Assari
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Velayati
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001926:Brain Death; D002102:Cadaver; D019049:Developed Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D007668:Kidney; D008099:Liver; D008168:Lung; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010179:Pancreas; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000379:methods*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult