New Scottish organ donation drive focuses on heart valves:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Scotland has announced a £250,000 ($455,000) plan to boost the donation of heart valves and kidneys, particularly from so-called non-heartbeating donors. Once the programme is fully established, it may be extended to liver, lung and other tissue, said NHS Scotland. In addition to this initiative, which is being launched in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the latter will host the UK's first pilot for operating a multi-organ retrieval team, with the aim of increasing this activity without impinging on the hospital's other services. Similar schemes in England have resulted in a 20% increase in non-heartbeating donation. Most organs currently come from heartbeating donors, where death is confirmed based on brain stem activity.