Transplantation proceedings
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Organ procurement and transplant activity from controlled donation after circulatory death (DCD) was evaluated over an 11-year period to determine whether this program influenced the transplant and donation after brain death (DBD) activities. ⋯ This DCD program implementation enlarged the DD pool and did not compromise the development of DBD programs. The potential DCD pool might be underused and seems to be a valuable organ donor source.
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Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in liver transplant (LT) recipients. To date there is no consensus on the preferred screening tests to detect CAD in the pre-LT population. Therefore the aim of this study was to: 1) evaluate the utility of a noninvasive tool (cardiac computerized tomography [CT] scan); and 2) determine the prevalence of CAD in low-risk LT candidates. ⋯ Prevalence of asymptomatic CAD in this low-risk population is relatively high. Cardiac CT is well tolerated and is a useful noninvasive screening tool in LT candidates. Future studies to determine its utility as a prognostic tool after LT will be invaluable.