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Patient Q&A with UNOS Chief Medical Officer David Klassen

Navigating the coronavirus pandemic is difficult for everyone, but brings special challenges for transplant patients. In a new video series on TransplantLiving.org, UNOS Chief Medical Officer David Klassen, M.D., answers questions for patients about COVID-19 and the waiting list, temporary inactivation, donor testing,

Audience

• OPO directors, administrators, data coordinators and clinical coordinators
• Please share this notice with anyone in your organization who would benefit from this information.

Implementation date: April 6, 2020

Updates for electronic organ offer notifications provide additional efficiency and flexibility about how to offer organs

An update has been made for OPO electronic organ offer notification limits in DonorNet® to

UNOS, ASTS, AOPO and AST all urge local recovery of organs

The donation and transplant community has expressed unified support for the surgical recovery of organs by local teams. UNOS, ASTS, AOPO and AST released statements regarding this important step in reducing exposure to COVID-19, safeguarding the health of clinicians and facilitating the continuation of organ

Ex situ heart perfusion (ESHP) allows resuscitation and functional assessment of marginal donor hearts to expand the donor pool. The current clinically available ESHP platform does not enable contractile assessment. We sought to determine if a marginal donor heart could be resuscitated and assessed on our custom ESHP system following an extended period of cold

Ex vivo heart perfusion is an innovative preservation technique, that permits graft assessment and extended out-of-body intervals. In times of high-risk recipients and donors with extended criteria, we hypothesized that its properties for prolonged heart preservation might be especially beneficial.

Transmedic Organ Care System (OCS) allows preservation of the donor heart by perfusing the organ at 34°C in a beating state and providing additional assessment options. The perfusion protocols as established by the manufacturer is valid for adult human hearts, using coronary flows in the 8-900ml/min range guided by lactate measurements. Higher flow can facilitate

While cardiac transplantation remains the most effective therapy for end-stage heart failure, it continues to be plagued by a severe donor shortage. Many potentially suitable organs are not transplanted due to concerns of inadequate preservation with hypothermic static storage. Experimental and clinical studies suggest that machine perfusion preservation improves myocardial preservation. The purpose of this

Organ donation and transplant professionals from around the world convened on March 23 in a town hall webinar aimed at helping health care professionals navigate the ever-evolving COVID-19 health crisis. “Our goal was to share our experiences to date and respond to questions about the impact of COVID-19 on organ donation and transplantation,” said Shandie

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Board of Directors has approved replacing the OPTN Thoracic Organ Transplantation Committee with two separate committees – a Heart Transplantation Committee and a Lung Transplantation Commiteee.

The new committees will begin their work on July 1, 2020 and will allow the OPTN to be more representative and responsive