The purpose of this study is to determine the practicality of performing a future, large-scale study. The future study will look at the effect of mechanical ventilation in neurologically deceased (brain-dead) lung donors who are positioned to lay flat on their stomach (prone position), compared to donors who are positioned to lay flat on their back (supine position). The study will also look at the potential impact of prone positioning of the donor on transplant recipients of the study organs. The investigators are doing this study because the investigators want to increase the availability of donor lungs for lung transplant. Lung transplant is a life-saving treatment for individuals with lung disease, but there are not enough donated lungs to meet demand. Researchers are looking for better ways of preventing donated lungs from becoming unsuitable for transplant. Because of this, the goal of our study is to test whether prone positioning in neurologically deceased (brain-dead) lung donors can improve donor lung function and decrease complications, potentially increasing the number of donor lungs that can be used for transplant.
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This pilot randomized controlled trial will assess the feasibility of conducting a future full randomized clinical trial, specifically, to determine whether donor accrual will be adequate (if we recruit 40 donors from 4 sites over 1 year)
Timeframe: 90 days
To document adherence to the explicit prone positioning and mechanical ventilation protocol (if more than 80% of donors have no major protocol violations then considered adequate)
Timeframe: 90 days
To document the number of those who cross over to the alternate strategy (if fewer than 10% of donors cross over to the alternate strategy, when not allowed by protocol then considered adequate)
Timeframe: 90 days