The following is a summary of “Impact of Heparin Therapy in Deceased Donors on Early Graft Survival for Kidney and Liver Recipients: A Clinical Trial Study,” published in the June 2023 issue of Nephrology by Latifi et al.
Brain-dead organ donors often experience significant hemodynamic, hormonal, and metabolic impairment, leading to graft viability deterioration.
Researchers performed a retrospective study to analyze the effect of heparin therapy after brain death confirmation could improve early graft survival in kidney and liver recipients. The study divided deceased donors into 2 groups based on D-dimer level, 1 group received heparin injection (case group), while the other group did not (control group). A total of 71 donors in the case group and 43 donors in the control group were included, and 5,000 units of heparin were administered every 6 hours to the case group. The average age of the case and control groups was 36.27 years ± 16.13 years and 36.15 years ± 18.45 years, respectively.
An independent t-test showed no significant difference in the number of organs procured between the two groups (P= 0.29). There was also no significant difference in the graft survival rate between the liver recipients who received different doses of heparin injection (P= 0.06). However, a significant difference in the graft survival rate was revealed between the kidney recipients who received different doses of heparin injection (P= 0.004).
The study suggested that low-dose heparin therapy before organ donation may prevent thrombosis without affecting the number of donated organs or graft survival.
Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37401509/
