Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Transplant. Jun 18, 2026; 16(2): 119012
Published online Jun 18, 2026. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v16.i2.119012
Published online Jun 18, 2026. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v16.i2.119012
Donor heart injury caused by liver needle biopsy during multi-organ procurement surgery: A case report
Yuriko Terada, Tsuyoshi Takahashi, Michael K Pasque, Daniel Kreisel, Amit Pawale, Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, United States
Yuriko Terada, Tsuyoshi Takahashi, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 9208641, Ishikawa, Japan
Author contributions: Terada Y and Takahashi T conceived and designed the study, collected the data, and drafted the manuscript; Pasque ML and Kreisel D were critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; Pawale A contributed to data interpretation and manuscript revision; and all authors read and approved the final manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Informed consent statement: This manuscript is a case report describing an intraoperative injury involving a deceased organ donor during multi-organ procurement surgery. This report does not include any intervention, treatment, or identifiable information related to a living patient, and no recipient-specific identifiable data are presented.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Corresponding author: Yuriko Terada, MD, PhD, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-Machi, Kanazawa, Kanazawa 9208641, Ishikawa, Japan.
Received: January 19, 2026
Revised: February 9, 2026
Accepted: April 13, 2026
Published online: June 18, 2026
Processing time: 132 Days and 6.8 Hours
Revised: February 9, 2026
Accepted: April 13, 2026
Published online: June 18, 2026
Processing time: 132 Days and 6.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Organ procurement injuries during multi-organ recovery are considered rare, but they can result in irreversible loss of otherwise transplantable organs and may be underreported in national registries. We describe an unusual case in which a liver core needle biopsy performed during abdominal procurement caused transdiaphragmatic puncture injury to the donor heart, leading to intraoperative heart decline at the donor hospital. This case highlights a preventable mechanism of donor heart loss and emphasizes the importance of coordination, timing, and protective strategies among procurement teams to avoid avoidable organ injury.