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Abstract

The Transplantation of Human Organs is used in treatment of patients who has irreversible damage to their organs. The demand of various organs for transplant patients far exceeds than the number of organs actually donated but transplantation is offered only to patients who have a prospect of achieving an acceptably good quality and duration of life after transplantation.Since the inception of organ transplantation, the huge gap between the demand and supply of organs has been widening exponentially. The growing need for transplantable organs necessitates finding sources other than heart beating donors (HBD), and living donors (LD). The other probable source of a transplantable organ from Non Heart Beating Cadaver (NHB) or a Donation after Cardiac Death (DCD) has not been explored extensively. An important aspect of organ donation is harvesting the selected organ within a stipulated time period, known as Warm Ischaemia Time (WIT). If an organ is retrieved by the organ retrieval team within the specific WIT attributed to different organs, then there are increased chances of their proper functioning post transplantation with reduced incidences of graft rejection. Thus, detecting the viability of an organ and its functionality within the accepted range of normal limits is of paramount importance for successful organ harvesting and its subsequent transplantation. The authors discuss about the various intricacies of harvesting organs from Non Heart Beating cadavers brought for autopsy, thereby utilizing a large pool of still inaccessible organs for the greater benefit of the entire society.

Keywords: Organ Retrieval; Therapeutic Transplantation; Non Heart Beating Cadaver; Warm Ischaemia Time. 

Corresponding Author : Correspondence and Reprint Requests: Abhishek Yadav, Assistant Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, All India Institute of Medical sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi-110029, India.