Difficulties in obtaining kidneys from potential postmortem donors
S. N. Chatterjee, J. E. Payne and T. V. Berne
Disease outcome and kidney disposition of 86 patients referred as potential
postmortem kidney donors were followed up over a one-year period to
determine factors that led to "organ wastage." Six patients died before
fulfilling the electorencephalographic criteria for death; another six were
referred too late, leaving insufficient time to contact the relatives; and
in 16 patients, permission was refused by the next of kin. In eight cases,
no relatives could be traced and, finally, 14 patients died wtthout
fulfilling our criteria of acceptability. Organs were obtained from only 22
donors--25.5% of the total referrals. Any data presenting the number of
potential postmortem kidney donors must be considered in thp light of
factors incorporating the ease or difficulty with which kidney grafts can
be obtained. An awareness of these factors is necessary for maximum
utilization of potential kidney donors.
