Normothermic regional perfusion for heart transplantation from controlled donation after circulatory death
| Population undergoing heart transplantation |
| Study evaluates at least one of: normothermic regional perfusion, thoracoabdominal NRP (TA-NRP), or abdominal NRP (A-NRP) |
| Comparator is at least one of: controlled DCD without NRP followed by static cold storage, controlled DCD without NRP followed by ex-situ machine perfusion, or donation after brain death (DBD) |
| Controlled DCD donors when DCD organs are used (Maastricht category III or IV) |
| Randomized controlled trials or non-randomized comparative studies |
| Heart-recipient outcomes reported separately when multi-organ donors are included |
| Published in English |
| Primary research published in peer-reviewed journals |
| Uncontrolled donation after circulatory death (Maastricht categories I and II) |
| Multi-organ studies without separately reported heart transplant recipient outcomes |
| Case reports |
| Editorials |
| Commentaries |
| Letters |
| Narrative reviews |
| Conference abstracts |
| Conference posters |
| Animal studies |
Locate the arms in methods descriptions of donor type and procurement/perfusion technique, randomization tables when present, or table column headers contrasting NRP, non-NRP static cold storage, non-NRP machine perfusion, and DBD groups. Dimension (categorical) — the donor recovery and preservation strategy used for the transplanted heart.
Controlled DCD heart recovery with in-situ normothermic regional perfusion (thoracoabdominal TA-NRP or abdominal-only A-NRP), with or without subsequent static cold storage or ex-situ machine perfusion, including 'NRP', 'TA-NRP', 'A-NRP', 'thoracoabdominal NRP', 'abdominal NRP', and 'in situ normothermic regional perfusion'.
Controlled DCD heart recovery without NRP (direct procurement) followed by static cold storage only, including 'direct procurement + SCS', 'static cold storage', 'cold/ice storage without NRP', 'DCD-SCS', and 'direct procurement without machine perfusion'.
Controlled DCD heart recovery without preceding in-situ NRP (direct procurement) followed by ex-situ machine perfusion (hypothermic or normothermic), including 'DPP', 'direct procurement and perfusion', 'Organ Care System (OCS)', 'ex-situ machine perfusion', and 'machine perfusion after direct procurement'.
Donation after neurological death (brain death) donors with any preservation method, including 'DBD', 'DNC', 'DNDD', 'donation after brain death', 'brain-dead donors', and 'neurologic determination of death'.
| recipient_survival | Recipient survival at 1, 6, and 12 months after heart transplantation. |
| graft_survival | Cardiac graft survival at 1, 6, and 12 months after transplantation. |
| primary_graft_dysfunction | Primary graft dysfunction defined according to ISHLT criteria. |
| early_allograft_dysfunction | Early cardiac allograft dysfunction after transplantation. |
| primary_nonfunction | Primary nonfunction of the cardiac allograft. |
| acute_rejection | Acute cellular rejection of the cardiac allograft. |
| antibody_mediated_rejection | Antibody-mediated rejection of the cardiac allograft. |
| cardiac_allograft_vasculopathy | Cardiac allograft vasculopathy after transplantation. |
| mechanical_circulatory_support | Post-transplant mechanical circulatory support including IABP, ECMO, and VAD. |
| hospital_length_of_stay | Length of hospital stay after transplantation. |
| icu_length_of_stay | Length of intensive care unit stay after transplantation. |
| ventilation_duration | Duration of mechanical ventilation after transplantation. |
| retransplantation | Need for cardiac retransplantation. |
| acute_kidney_injury | Acute kidney injury or new renal replacement therapy after transplantation. |
| stroke | Stroke or other major neurologic complication after transplantation. |
| reexploration_for_bleeding | Surgical reexploration for bleeding after transplantation. |
| infection | Clinically significant post-transplant infection. |