Pediatric Transplantation

This study surveyed pediatric infectious diseases (PID) clinicians about organ acceptance and associated posttransplantation interventions using fictitious case scenarios. Agreement on donor acceptance was high across many scenarios. However, management variability reveals key opportunities to optimize strategies to reduce the impact of donor-derived infections in organ recipients.

This study highlights the low approach rates for potential organ donors and the persistent racial disparities in the pediatric deceased organ donation process. Racial minority groups are less likely to be approached for donation and consent compared to Whites. These findings underscore the need for an equitable organ donation process to expand the pediatric donor pool.

There is a shortage of donor hearts in Switzerland, especially for pediatric recipients. Our retrospective analysis shows that the most common reason for refusing a pediatric donor heart is lack of compatibility with the recipient. A more generous acceptance seems to be justified in selected patients.

Given the variability in pediatric donor heart utilization among OPOs, we examined factors that may explain this variability, including differences in donor medical management, organ quality, and candidate factors.

When considering all pediatric donor, candidate and offer specific UNOS data from 2010 to 2020, predictive modeling demonstrated that the likelihood of an institution accepting a pediatric heart offer is most directly influenced by how many times that offer has already been refused.