Showing papers by "Robert Higgins published in 2023"
TL;DR: In this article , the authors reviewed outcomes from a regionalized heart and lung transplant service over a 15-year period and found that a specialized regional thoracic organ procurement team may improve transplantation rates.
Abstract: To review outcomes from a regionalized heart and lung transplant service over a 15-year period.Data on organ procurements made by the Specialized Thoracic Adapted Recovery (STAR) team. The STAR team staff recorded data from November 2, 2004 to June 30, 2020, were reviewed.The STAR teams recovered thoracic organs from 1118 donors between November 2004 and June 2020. The teams recovered 978 hearts, 823 bilateral lungs, 89 right lungs and 92 left lungs, and 8 heart and lung sets. A total of 79% of hearts and 76.1% of lungs were transplanted, whereas 2.5% of hearts and 5.1% of lungs were declined; the remainder were used for research, valves, or abandoned. A total of 47 transplantation centers received at least 1 heart, and 37 centers received at least 1 lung during this period. The 24-hour graft survival among organs recovered by STAR teams was 100% for lungs and 99% for hearts.A specialized regional thoracic organ procurement team may improve transplantation rates.