November 6, 2025
Source: OPTN and HRSA
Ensuring Safety and Reliability in DCD Protocols — A Message to the OPTN Community
The OPTN, in collaboration with HRSA, is issuing this message to highlight a critical safety concern in donation after circulatory death (DCD) procedures, specifically the occurrence of spontaneous return of cardiac or respiratory activity (“autoresuscitation”) after declaration of circulatory death and in the initial stages of organ recovery. The OPTN has received verified reports of such events. Though extremely rare, these events call for heightened vigilance and standardized practice across all organ procurement organizations (OPOs). In the coming weeks, the OPTN will be proposing new policy requirements and associated data collection in order to further improve system safety.
New OPTN Communications Channel and Safe Sender Request
HRSA has launched a new communications listserv to deliver timely updates directly to the OPTN community. All OPTN members were automatically enrolled based on their membership points of contact. To ensure you continue receiving messages, including policy notices, regular updates, and safety alerts, please add optn@public.govdelivery.com to your safe senders list.