Effects of Terlipressin on Management of Potential Organ Donors

During brain death, many significant systemic changes take place and among these, the most notable is hemodynamic instability.

In the pathogenesis of brain death, after the hypertensive phase of the "catecholamine storm", arterial tonus and heart inotropism eventually deteriorate, leading to hypotension and hypoperfusion. Therefore, vasopressor agents are necessary in treatment of brain-dead organ donors. The most commonly used and recommended vasoactive drugs for this indication are dopamine, norepinephrine, and vasopressin.The Transplantation Committee of the American College of Cardiology recommends vasopressin as the primary vasoactive drug for treating hemodynamic instability and diabetes insipidus in brain-death heart donors.

Terlipressin (TP) is a new type of synthetic long-acting vasopressin preparations, AVP long-acting derivatives, belongs to a kind of precursor drugs, itself is inactive, the body through the aminopeptidase, slow "release" of a reactive lysine vasopressin. On the one hand，terlipressin can splanchnic vascular smooth muscle contraction, reduces splanchnic blood flow (e.g., reduce blood flow to the mesenteric, spleen, uterus, etc), to ensure the flow of blood to the important viscera;On the other hand, it reduces the concentration of plasma renin, increases the perfusion of renal blood flow, and improves the glomerular filtration rate, thus improving renal function.From the pharmacological perspective, it is better than arginine vasopressin for the stability of hemodynamics and the perfusion of tissue.

Whether or not it has therapeutic effect on the potential brain death donor with unstable hemodynamics is not studied in the literature at home and abroad.This paper discusses the application value of terlipressin in the management of potential brain death, and provides clinical evidence for the maintenance of brain death donor.