Non-heart-beating donor is an important source for lung transplantation, and has been successfully used in clinical practice for many years with satisfactory outcomes. But donor shortage, imperfect lung preservation techniques and ethical controversies still limit the development of non-heart-beating donor. In recent years, with continuous scientific progress, great progress has been made in each aspect of non-heart-beating donor. Here we review the clinical categories, ischemia time, death determination, ethical progress, and lung preservation techniques of non-heart-beating donor.
