Objective To get a knowledge of the current status of organ donation and utilization after citizen's death in Wuxi District, and thereby provide ideas and basis for further development of organ donation work in local areas. Methods Clinical data from 151 organ donors, included 37 successful donors and 114 potential donors, were retrospectively analyzed. The reasons for donation failure of potential donors were analyzed. The general information for successful donors was collected. And the information on organ donation and organ utilization in successful donors were analyzed. Results Among the 151 organ donors, 37 were successful donors, with the conversion rate reaching 24.5%. For the 114 donors with failed organ donation, the reasons for failure included family disagreement, failure to meet donation status criteria, insufficient evaluation time, and unresolved work injury disputes. The categories for organ donation included 34 cases of donation after brain death followed by cardiac death (DBCD), 3 cases of donation after brain death (DBD), and no case of donation after cardiac death (DCD). The reasons for death of donors includes 19 cases of craniocerebral trauma, 14 cases of stroke and 4 cases of others. Among the 37 cases of successful donors, the majority were floating population. A total of 154 major organs and tissues were donated, of which 124 were major organs. The number of major organs and tissues donated per citizen was (4.2± 1.6) and the number of major organs donated per citizen was (3.4± 1.1). The utilization rate of the 154 donated organs reached 96.7% (149/154), with Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou and Changzhou ranking the top 4 of organ distribution. Conclusions The rate for successful organ donation and conversion after citizen's death is low in Wuxi District. The organ donation work networks in local areas should be established. And organ donation promotion efforts and skills training for coordinators should be developed.

Objective To investigate the citizen's attitude towards the cognition of brain death and the legislation of brain death criteria. Methods A questionnaire survey was performed in 1 500 outpatients or accompanying personnel by the convenient sampling method. The questionnaire data were independently recorded by two professionals using the Epidata 3.02 software. The factors influencing the citizen's support of the legislation of brain death were analyzed by univariate and multivariate Logistic regression models. Results Among 1 433 eligible respondents, 84.65% (1 213/1 433) of them knew brain death, and 24.32% (295/1 213) considered brain death as a reasonable criterion for death. The proportion of respondents who supported and opposed the legislation of brain death was 49.79% (604/1 213) and 17.31% (210/1 213).Male [odds ratio (OR)=1.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0-1.6], those with junior college degree or above at educational level (OR=1.5, 95%CI 1.1-1.9), those whose relatives and friends were engaged in organ donation (OR=3.3, 95%CI 1.1-10.3), those who participated in public welfare activities of organ donation (OR=3.1, 95%CI 1.6-6.0) and those who regarded brain death as a reasonable criterion for death (OR=2.0, 95%CI 1.5-2.6) were more inclined to support the legislation of brain death, which were the independent influencing factors of the legislation of brain death (all P < 0.05). Conclusions Citizens have relatively low cognition and support of the legislation of brain death criteria. Relevant propaganda on brain death should be widely carried out to strengthen the citizen basis for the legislation.

In recent years, organ donation has developed rapidly in China, whereas the brain death criteria have not been confirmed by relevant legislation. In this article, the current legislation situation of brain death criteria at home and abroad, and the current criteria for determination of death for organ donation after citizen's death in China were introduced. The necessity of legislation of brain death criteria in China was discussed from the perspective of organ donation, and suggestions on the form and content of brain death criteria legislation were proposed based on the actual national conditions, aiming to provide reference for the legislation of brain death criteria.