Table 2.

Basis of the assessment of medical donor characteristics

On which basis do transplant surgeons assess medical donor characteristics?
Category	Frequency*	Sample quote
1) International literature	3/14	With the pancreas, I actually stick to the published data from Minneapolis, that is to Sutherland [et al.], on risk factors for organ loss…to this study with more than 1,000 pancreas transplantations. (IP 02)
2) Hospital guidelines	2/14	We have relatively strict guidelines…It starts already with age. As a rule, we do not accept organs that are more than 40 years old. Institutional guidelines. (IP 06)
3) Peer custom	2/14	There’s this age limit‚ 50 years‘. Wherever that may come from. (IP 12)
		[I check] donor age, cause of death,…weight. These are the essential [factors]. I guess this is generally valid, everywhere. We don’t have special [age] regulations [in our center]. (IP 08)
4) Personal clinical experience	4/14	When I look back on our most recent pancreases, they were all between 45 and 55 years [old]. …I think we can do it, transplanting these organs, because we don’t have these long shipping times [like in the USA],… we are very successful at it.(IP 05)
		Polytrauma… whoever refuses that per se, but accepts a 40- or 50-year-old, who has seen younger days – my personal opinion is that this is wrong. (IP 11)

*The numbers do not add up to 14, because not every interview supplied sufficient information to allow for a clear categorization. In addition, 2 interviewees were coded for 2 categories, because they relied on the scientific literature, but also considered their clinical experience.