Human heart transplantation from donation after circulatory-determined death donors using normothermic regional perfusion and cold storage

Heart transplantation from donation after circulatory-determined-death (DCD) donors is emerging as an additional avenue to increase heart transplant activity. Previous methods of DCD heart retrieval include direct procurement and cold storage, direct procurement, and machine perfusion and normothermic regional perfusion, followed by machine perfusion during transportation. Herein we report a further technique resulting in successful DCD heart transplantation utilizing normothermic regional perfusion and permitting functional assessment followed by cold storage.