Extended criteria donor: how far?

Abstract

Extended-criteria donors are increasing due to aging of the donor population, changes in causes of death, and medical progresses in the field of transplantation, allowing to transplant grafts from older and/or with vascular co-morbidities donors. The use of grafts from such donors is evidence-based and beneficial for recipients with respect of certain conditions including maintenance of donors as well as evaluation of viability, conservation, and allocation of the organs. Scoring systems allow the detection of grafts at significant risk of failure, for which diagnostic tools will be developed in order to better assess their quality and function. This policy should lead to the implementation of all strategies to optimize graft function but also allow, when appropriate, the recognition of grafts that present the risk of poor or no functional status, to be discarded from transplantation.