Are organ donors anesthetized just in case?

[Quintas]

Cecils column mentioned that the transplant team starts cutting away once brain death is determined, as time is of the essence.

However, do they still anesthetize the person just in case their diagnosis of brain death was wrong? They’re gonna be dead once their organs are gone, but what if they are just “locked in” and had to suffer while the team sliced them open.

[Kimstu]

Apparently anesthesia is often used on organ donors prior to and during organ procurement, but not to avoid any one-in-a-billion chance of the donor consciously feeling pain: rather, it’s to avoid damaging the procured organs with sympathetic response to the trauma of the procedure. Sez here in a CRNA nursing forum discussion:

“I find it interesting that anesthesia is required for the donor body, already pronounced clinically dead, during the harvesting of organs for donation. Yes, anesthesia is not just for the living. Does the CRNA role involve actively trying to keep all of the hemodynamic parameters stable to maintain the viability of the organs prior to surgical removal? If so, I would assume that this is very challenging. Are there any CRNA’s out there in “CRNA land” that would be able to provide more insight into this very fascinating topic? Thanks in advance, I would be very interested in hearing about your experiences.”

Plan: 100% O2, maintain ventilation O2 is vital to the organs. Keep pressure up to ensure organ perfusion. Give what ever drugs the donation people want you to, they are the experts in preserving organs. A little opioid can smooth things out. Even though the patient is dead they still have an sympathetic response to pain which can send HR and BP through the roof since the surgey is so traumatic. Heart out, turn off the vent whenever surgeon says its cool. Let them take the rest of the organs. Peace out.