title: Extracorporeal life support and multiorgan donation in a severe polytrauma patient: A case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Organ availability represents a key factor in transplants due to an almost universal shortage of deceased donors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present the case of a 41-year-old patients with severe polytrauma, where extracorporeal life support (ECLS) allowed brain death (BD) declaration and multiorgan retrieval and transplantation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Organ procurement is of utmost importance for transplant procedures. The presented case could rise ethical doubts as ECLS could be viewed as a tool for organ preservation instead of patient support. Nonetheless, it is obvious how organ preservation represents the necessary condition for patient preservation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Besides it' role in non heart beating donors, ECLS is emerging as an adjunctive tool for brain dead donors management when standard treatment fails, potentially allowing a substantial increase in organ availability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Science, Section of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain medicine, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: paolobal84@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Balsorano
authors.affiliation: Anestesiology and Emergency and Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: ciapettim@aou-careggi.toscana.it.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ciapetti
authors.affiliation: Anestesiology and Emergency and Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: cianchig@aou-careggi.toscana.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cianchi
authors.affiliation: Anestesiology and Emergency and Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: bonizzolim@aou-careggi.toscana.it.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bonizzoli
authors.affiliation: Anestesiology and Emergency and Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: migliaccioml@aou-careggi.toscana.it.
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Migliaccio
authors.affiliation: Anestesiology and Emergency and Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: ferraromc@aou-careggi.toscana.it.
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ferraro
authors.affiliation: Anestesiology and Emergency and Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: francia@aou-careggi.toscana.it.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franci
authors.affiliation: Anestesiology and Emergency and Trauma Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Largo Brambilla 3, 50134 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: perisa@aou-careggi.toscana.it.
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peris
keywords: ECMO; Extracorporeal life support; Organ retrieval; Polytrauma; Transplantation