This week brings new leadership at the top of UNOS and a batch of fresh research touching your daily work, from ECPR donation ethics to ABO typing edge cases. Here is what actually moved in the last two weeks.
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Mark Johnson named CEO of UNOS.
UNOS announced Mark Johnson as its new chief executive on August 24. The leadership change lands during ongoing federal scrutiny of the transplant system and continued transition work around OPTN modernization.
On your shift. New leadership at UNOS often signals shifts in policy priorities and system tooling. Watch for how this affects the platforms and reporting requirements you deal with case to case.
New letter examines the ethical and clinical challenges of organ donation after ECPR.
Published August 27, this letter to the editor digs into the specific tensions that arise when donation follows extracorporeal CPR. It flags unresolved questions about consent timing, determination of death, and the line between resuscitation and organ preservation.
On your shift. ECPR cases are showing up more often and blur the usual DCD workflow. If you are managing one of these referrals, expect harder family conversations and closer ethics review than a standard DCD case.
ABO genotyping shows utility in resolving serologic ambiguities in deceased donation.
A recent study evaluates using ABO genotyping to clear up blood typing discrepancies that serology alone cannot resolve in deceased donors. The goal is fewer typing errors that could delay or misdirect an allocation.
On your shift. When a donor's blood type comes back ambiguous, that uncertainty can stall allocation and rattle everyone downstream. Knowing genotyping is a resolution path can help you push for the right confirmatory test faster.
New evaluation of the Organ Care System, or Heart in a Box, for heart transplantation.
Published August 26, this study looks at the Organ Care System as a normothermic perfusion approach for donor hearts. It weighs how ex vivo perfusion expands the usable donor pool and supports longer preservation windows.
On your shift. As perfusion tech becomes standard for hearts, it changes timing and logistics for recovery teams in the OR. Coordinators may see more distant heart placements and tighter coordination with perfusionists on device handling.