The first successful human heart transplantation was reported on 3 December 
1967, by Christiaan Barnard in South Africa. Since then this life-saving 
procedure has been performed in over 120 000 patients. A limitation to the 
performance of this procedure is the availability of donor hearts with as many 
as 20% of patients dying before a donor's heart is available for transplant. 
Today, hearts for transplantation are procured from individuals experiencing 
donation after brain death (DBD). Interestingly, this, however, was not always 
the case as the first heart transplants occurred after circulatory death. 
Revisiting the availability of hearts for transplant from those 
experiencing donation after circulatory death (DCD) could further expand the 
number of hearts suitable for transplantation. There are several considerations 
pertinent to transplanting hearts from those undergoing circulatory death. In 
this review, we summarize the main distinctions between DBD and DCD heart 
donation and discuss the research relevant to increasing the number of hearts 
available for transplantation by including individual's hearts that experience 
circulatory death.