Overseas organ donation during wartime operations: Benchmarking military performance against civilian practice

John S. Oh*, Darren Malinoski, Kathleen D. Martin, J. Salvador De La Cruz, David Zonies

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background Over the past 15 years of war, eligible U.S. military members donated organs overseas in Germany. Our hypothesis was that outcomes at a military treatment facility were comparable to a civilian cohort. Methods Military donors were matched 1:3 with a donor cohort from the U.S. United Network for Organ Sharing. Data were compared using univariate and multivariate analysis. Significance set at p < 0.05. Results Forty military organ donors were compared with 116 civilian matched donors. The military cohort conversion rate was 75.5% and recovered more organs per donor (4.6 vs. 4.0, p = 0.02) with more transplants (4.2 vs 3.5, p = 0.01). Multivariate analysis controlling for sex, age, and type of organ donation showed no difference in odds of total organs donated in the military versus civilian cohort (odds ratio 2.1, 95% CI 0.87–5.24, p = 0.10). Conclusions Organ donation at a military treatment facility overseas can be accomplished successfully.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)303-306
Number of pages4
JournalAmerican Journal of Surgery
Volume214
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Combat casualty care
  • Organ donation
  • Organ transplant

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