The INTEGRITY guidelines – ethical guidance for research involving deceased donation and transplantation

The absence of ethical guidance for research that involves actual and prospective deceased donors of organs, cells or tissues for transplantation presents challenges for researchers, donation agencies, and participants in such research. To address this, the European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT), together with the International Society for Organ Donation Professionals (ISODP) and The Transplantation Society (TTS), convened an interdisciplinary, multinational team to develop the first international guidelines for ethical practice in research involving deceased donation and transplantation activities (INTEGRITY). The guidelines were developed over twelve months via an international, iterative consultative process. The resultant principles are presented in this article.