Heart donation after a fatal stab wound to the right ventricle: a case report.

Trauma victims are a significant part of the donor pool, though injuries to donor organs normally exclude them from their procurement. We present the case of a 37-year-old male with a stab wound to the chest, resulting in penetrating sharp force injury to the right ventricle of the heart. Despite the ultimately fatal injury, the heart was successfully repaired, and later donated, after brain death. Resuscitation and surgical intervention, along with the collaboration of medical and legal parties, enabled heart donation to occur without compromising the quality of forensic postmortem examination. Though it is an extraordinary circumstance, it challenges norms regarding organ donation, and suggests an expanded potential for organ donation as a goal of timely medical intervention in addition to the survival of the patient, including for traumatically injured organs. This is the first reported case in which trauma to the heart, responsible for the death of the patient, preceded its donation.