A beating heart cadaver is a human body that though dead in all medical and legal definitions is attached to a medical ventilator

Medical ventilator

A medical ventilator can be defined as any machine designed to mechanically move breatheable air into and out of the lungs, to provide the mechanism of breathing for a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently....

 and retains cardio-pulmonary functions. This will keep the organs of the dead body, including the heart

Heart

The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions...

, functioning and alive for a few days. As a result, the period of time in which the organs may be used for transplantation is extended.

Care

Caring for a beating heart cadaver is similar to caring for a living patient. Since the brain has stopped functon, the hormone levels and blood pressure must be regulated by intensive care unit

Intensive Care Unit

thumb|220px|ICU roomAn intensive-care unit , critical-care unit , intensive-therapy unit/intensive-treatment unit is a specialized department in a hospital that provides intensive-care medicine...

 (ICU) personnel. The protocol for preserving the cadaver aims to prevent infection and maintain adequate oxygenation

Oxygenation

Oxygenation may refer to:* Oxygenation , a measurement of dissolved oxygen concentration in soil or water* Oxygenation , the process by which concentrations of oxygen increase within a tissue...

 of tissue.. The cadaver's status must be continuously monitored, so that ICU staff can prevent organ failure or quickly operate to save threatened organs.

Organ recovery

A beating heart cadaver is kept "alive" in order to keep its organs from decaying before they can be transplanted. Surgeons will remove the organs, one after the other, and have them transferred to the recipients' treating teams. The entire recovery process is usually completed within four hours. This process was formerly known as an "organ harvest", but the name has since changed to the milder "organ recovery." Many organs can be extracted, and many lives can be saved by one body. The bodies are generally those of organ donors

Organ donation

Organ donation is the donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body, from a living or dead person to a living recipient in need of a transplantation. Transplantable organs and tissues are removed in a surgical procedure following a determination, based on the donor's medical and...

, who have agreed beforehand to donate their organs. Some donated organs are taken from non-heart-beating donors. Organs from brain death

Brain death

Brain death is the irreversible end of all brain activity due to total necrosis of the cerebral neurons following loss of brain oxygenation. It should not be confused with a persistent vegetative state...

s, however, have a better success rate, and currently most organ donation is from these deaths.

Social issues

Being faced with a beating heart cadaver is often a disturbing and confusing experience. Because the heart is beating and the body is warm, people may have difficulty believing the person is dead. Families often like to see the body once it has been removed from the machines and "put to rest".

Cultural references

Award winning Canadian writer Colleen Murphy's play Beating Heart Cadaver will have its premiere in the United Kingdom on 3 April 2011 at the Finborough Theatre, London.

See also

• Heart Transplantation
  Heart transplantation
  A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplantation, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease. As of 2007 the most common procedure was to take a working heart from a recently deceased organ donor and implant it into the...
  
  
• Organ Donation
  Organ donation
  Organ donation is the donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body, from a living or dead person to a living recipient in need of a transplantation. Transplantable organs and tissues are removed in a surgical procedure following a determination, based on the donor's medical and...
  
  
• Transplant Surgery
• Brain Death
  Brain death
  Brain death is the irreversible end of all brain activity due to total necrosis of the cerebral neurons following loss of brain oxygenation. It should not be confused with a persistent vegetative state...
  
  
• Non-heart-beating donation
• Legal death
  Legal death
  Legal death is a legal pronouncement by a qualified person that further medical care is not appropriate and that a patient should be considered dead under the law. The specific criteria used to pronounce legal death are variable and often depend on certain circumstances in order to pronounce a...