The shortage of suitable lung donors remains a significant challenge in lung transplantation. While brain-death donors (DBD) currently provide most lung allografts, only 20% are suitable for transplantation. This review discusses the potential of using donors after circulatory-determination-of-death (DCD) to increase the donor pool. Emphasizing controlled DCD (cDCD) donors, the article outlines the importance of ICU management and expertise in organ procurement, presenting a protocol for lung retrieval using normothermic abdominal perfusion.