The Shalimov National Scientific Center for Surgery and Transplantation told about how multiorgan donation from a donor with diagnosed brain death is performed, UNN reports.
Brain death refers to a condition when the human brain has stopped functioning, while the heart and breathing continue to be supported artificially. Brain death is diagnosed only after a whole range of tests by a medical consultation. The diagnosis of brain death is not initiated for every unconscious patient, but only if their condition meets a significant number of clinical criteria and research results
It is reported that only those organs are removed that were authorized to be removed either by the deceased person during his or her lifetime or by relatives, which is directly reflected in the relevant application.
"The removal of organs from a donor is carried out by a team of doctors, sometimes consisting of up to 20 or more specialists from different medical institutions. After the removal, an act is drawn up and signed by the team's doctors," the statement said.
It is also reported that information on the removal of organs is entered by the transplant coordinator into the USTIS. After that, the USTIS carries out the initial matching of donor-recipient pairs, which guarantees equality of recipients in receiving anatomical material, as such matching takes place according to the uniform rules set out in the legislation of Ukraine.
The organs are stored and transported in special refrigerated boxes that prolong the vital activity of anatomical materials. The maximum permissible transportation time for an extracted heart is 2 hours, and 5 hours if an auxiliary reperfusion device is used. For the removed liver, these figures are 5 and 8 hours, respectively. The maximum permissible transportation time for an extracted kidney is 12 hours