Transplantation is a life-saving therapy for a wide variety of acute and chronic organ pathologies, but the demand for organs far exceeds the supply. Every 10 minutes, one person is added to the national transplant waiting list, and on average, 21 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant.1 Maximizing the number of organs procured from each donor is therefore critically important, and there’s good evidence that critical care management can help.2-4 The unique skillset of intensivists make us the ideal providers to care for this vulnerable patient population, and when conducted properly can lead to a positive impact on the lives of patients’ families, numerous recipients and on public health as a whole.
The critical care physician should be competent in the diagnosis and understand the pathophysiology of death by neurologic criteria. After devastating brain injury, a cascade of catecholamine-mediated, neuroinflammatory and neuroendocrine processes...
