False-Positive Tumor During Organ Retrieval: All Cats Are Gray in the Dark

Objective: Efforts to expand the organ donor pool to meet growing transplant demands remains a top priority, as does maintaining the quality and safety standards of potential recipients. There is a short window of time from organ retrieval to decision making on organ acceptance, based on the available data. Furthermore, the limitations of intraoperative biopsy can often lead to donor or organ refusal due to a suspected tumor, which, if not confirmed in the final biopsy, results in the loss of a transplant opportunity.

Methods: Donor characteristics and organs discarded on suspicion of neoplastic disease at the time of extraction were analyzed in Andalusia between January 2014 and July 2018. The variable analysis included sociodemographic data, type of donor, location of the potential malignancy, histopathologic examination, and discarded organs.

Results: A total of 43 cases were identified. The organs of 33 donors (76.7%) were discarded. Kidneys were the most frequent location for a suspected tumor (44%), followed by the liver (21%). In 18 of the 43 cases (42%), the suspected malignancy was not confirmed, and of these, only 3 livers and 1 kidney were implanted. Sixty potentially transplantable organs were discarded, including those that would have been extracted and/or implanted in the absence of a suspected tumor.

Conclusions: These results highlight the need not only to improve the accuracy of intraoperative biopsies but to seek new decision-making strategies for the short interval after organ retrieval. This involves avoiding both extremes of donation contraindications, while maintaining quality and safety standards.