Current Situation of Organ Donation After Cardiac Death in China

Organ transplantation and related medical products had developed rapidly and saved lots of patients with end-stage disease in the 1990s. However, organ shortage, placing restrictions on the development of organ transplantation, is a severe problem facing all over the world. The beneficiary of organ transplant has been up to 50–90 per million in Europe and American countries. But the number of people dying at end stage of organ disease has not decreased. On the contrary, due to awareness of the effect of organ transplantation by dying patients, the number in the waiting list is growing daily. The ratio of organ requirements to organ supply is 5:1 in the United States, other than 150:1 in China. Facing the large demand, there is an utterly inadequate amount of organs from donation after brain death (DBD). Based on the traditional culture and recognition to death in China, donation after cardiac death (DCD) becomes the best choice of donation type to expand the donor pool. Here, we will discuss the current situation of DCD development in China.