Original ArticleDonation after Cardiac Death: The Potential Contribution of an Infant Organ Donor Population
Section snippets
Methods
The 3 institutions evaluated were Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and Children's Hospital Boston (CHB). BIDMC and BWH have large high-risk maternity services. Between 2005 and 2007, BIDMC had an average delivery rate of 4880 births per year and an average NICU admission rate of 856 admissions per year to its 40-bed NICU. During this same period, BWH had an average delivery rate of 8417 births per year and an average NICU admission rate of 1050
Results
Between 2005 and 2007, a total of 14 640 infants were born alive at BIDMC. Of these infants, 2569 were admitted to the NICU. There were 82 deaths, 50 of which were at >23 weeks gestation. During this same time frame, a total of 25 251 infants were born alive at BWH. Of these infants, 3151 were admitted to the NICU. There were 76 deaths, 66 of which were at >23 weeks gestation. CHB's NICU had 2145 admissions, 76 of which died.
Thus, in the 3 NICU services, a total of 192 deaths occurred in
Discussion
We determined a potential DCD rate in the delivery room and NICU populations. Previous studies that examined potential DCD donors in pediatrics focused on mortalities in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) and cardiac intensive care units,12, 13, 14, 15 but did not address the NICU population. Our retrospective 3-year study of delivery room and NICUs in 3 hospitals found 192 total deaths, of which 31 (16%) were theoretically eligible DCD donors and 16 (8%) were potential DCD candidates. This
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Cited by (0)
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.