Abdominal organ transplantation faces several challenges: burnout, limited pipeline of future surgeons, changes in liver allocation potentially impacting organ procurement travel, and travel safety. The organ procurement center (OPC) model may be one way to mitigate these issues. Liver transplants from 2009 to 2016 were reviewed. There were 755 liver transplants performed with 525 OPC and 230 in-hospital procurements. The majority of transplants (87.4%) were started during daytime hours (5 am-7 pm). Transplants with any portion occurring after-hours were more likely to have procurements in-hospital (P < .001). Daytime cases (n = 400) had more OPC procured livers and hepatitis C recipients and were less likely to have a donation after circulatory death donor (all P < .05). In adjusted analyses, daytime cases were independently associated with extubation in the operating room and less postoperative transfusion. There were no significant differences in short- or long-term postoperative outcomes. For exported livers, 54.3% were procured by a local team, saving 137 flights (151 559 miles). The OPC resulted in optimally timed liver transplants and decreased resource utilization with no negative impact on patient outcomes. It allows for ease in exporting organs procured by local surgeons, and potentially addresses provider burnout, the transplant surgery pipeline, and surgeon travel.
Keywords: clinical research/practice; donors and donation: donor evaluation; editorial/personal viewpoint; education; liver transplantation/hepatology; organ procurement; organ procurement and allocation; organ procurement organization; organ transplantation in general.
© 2018 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.