title: Out-of-hospital traumatic cardiac arrest: an underrecognized source of organ donors.
abstract: Whereas the gap between organ supply and demand remains a worldwide concern, resuscitation of out-of-hospital traumatic cardiac arrest (TCA) remains controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate, in a prehospital medical care system, the number of organs transplanted from victims of out-of-hospital TCA. This is a descriptive study. Victims of TCA are collected in the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest registry of the French North Alpine Emergency Network from 2004 to 2008. In addition to the rates of admission and survival, brain-dead patients and the organ transplanted are described. Among the 540 resuscitated patients with suspected TCA, 79 were admitted to a hospital, 15 were discharged alive from the hospital, and 22 developed brain death. Nine of these became eventually organ donors, with 31 organs transplanted, all functional after 1 year. Out-of-hospital TCA should be resuscitated just as medical CA. With a steady prevalence in our network, 19% of admitted TCA survived to discharge, and 11% became organ donors. It is essential to raise awareness among rescue teams that out-of-hospital TCA are an organ source to consider seriously.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Annecy General Hospital, Annecy, France.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Faucher
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Savary
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jund
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dorez
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Debaty
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaillard
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atchabahian
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tazarourte
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001926:Brain Death; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000401:mortality*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012042:Registries; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000401:mortality*
keywords: donation; donor identification; expanded donor pool; out-of-hospital; traumatic cardiac arrest