title: Overseas organ donation during wartime operations: Benchmarking military performance against civilian practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Over the past 15 years of war, eligible U.S. military members donated organs overseas in Germany. Our hypothesis was that outcomes at a military treatment facility were comparable to a civilian cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  Military donors were matched 1:3 with a donor cohort from the U.S. United Network for Organ Sharing. Data were compared using univariate and multivariate analysis. Significance set at p < 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty military organ donors were compared with 116 civilian matched donors. The military cohort conversion rate was 75.5% and recovered more organs per donor (4.6 vs. 4.0, p = 0.02) with more transplants (4.2 vs 3.5, p = 0.01). Multivariate analysis controlling for sex, age, and type of organ donation showed no difference in odds of total organs donated in the military versus civilian cohort (odds ratio 2.1, 95% CI 0.87-5.24, p = 0.10).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Organ donation at a military treatment facility overseas can be accomplished successfully.
authors.affiliation: Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences, Walter Reed Department of Surgery, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: john.s.oh.mil@mail.mil.
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA. Electronic address: malinosk@ohsu.edu.
authors.forename: Darren
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malinoski
authors.affiliation: The Trauma Center at Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood, PA, USA. Electronic address: martinka@mlhs.org.
authors.forename: Kathleen D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA. Electronic address: delacruz.630@gmail.com.
authors.forename: J Salvador
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: De La Cruz
authors.affiliation: Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA. Electronic address: zonies@ohsu.edu.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zonies
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019985:Benchmarking; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D014857:Warfare
keywords: Combat casualty care; Organ donation; Organ transplant