title: Utilization of the organ care system - a game-changer in combating donor organ shortage.
abstract: For patients with end-stage heart failure, cardiac transplantation persists to be the gold standard. Nevertheless, the availability of organs remains a main constraint to the treatment. Through mounting usage of ex vivo heart perfusion an increase in organ availability was achieved by reconditioning of organs formerly not regarded as appropriate for transplantation. We propose the future standard application of this state-of-the-art technology to improve the pool of donor organs by evaluating hearts outside standard acceptability criteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Aron-Frederik
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Popov
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: García Sáez
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Anton
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sabashnikov
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nikhil P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeriouh
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Prashant N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Mohite
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Bartlomiej
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zych
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Heart and Marfan Center, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Bastian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schmack
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Heart and Marfan Center, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Arjang
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ruhparwar
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Heart and Marfan Center, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kallenbach
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Pascal M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Dohmen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, Heart and Marfan Center, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karck
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Andre R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Transplantation & Mechanical Circulatory Support, Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weymann
mesh_terms: D006085:Graft Survival; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009926:Organ Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D010477:Perfusion / Q000379:methods*; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution*