The investigators will accept donors between the ages of 18 and 49 without any known history of coronary artery disease, insulin dependent diabetes, or long-term smoking (>20 pack/years) and normal baseline cardiac function (EF>50) assessed with transthoracic echocardiogram. Donors will be selected and matched to the recipients based on standard criteria (blood group, cross-match, size match, and clinical stability). The current procedure of donation after circulatory death (DCD) and procurement follows a well-established course. After consent is obtained, the organs are allocated through United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). All organs will be recovered with protocolized UNMC DCD TA-NRP technique that involves reestablishment of blood flow in-situ after donor's circulatory arrest using portable venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO). Organs will be transported from a donor site to recipient center with the SherpaPak™ CTS. All organs will be transplanted at Nebraska Medicine. Recipients (subjects) will be followed from transplant through one-year post-transplantation.
This is a prospective, pilot trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of The Paragonix SherpaPak™ Cardiac Transport System (SherpaPak CTS) in transportation of cardiac allografts recovered from donors after circulatory death with thoracoabdominal normothermic regional perfusion (TA-NRP). SherpaPak™ CTS is an ultraportable hypothermic preservation and transport system that has been approved by United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical use in heart transplantation.