Organ & Tissue Donation for Transplantation

In the history of medical advances, organ and tissue transplantation stands out as an extraordinary success. Transplants give recipients a second chance at life. According to Donate Life America, many surveys demonstrate that organ and tissue donation for transplant purposes has plenty of public support. Yet the need for transplants exceed donations due to a lack of registered donors.

Identification

• The organ donation process provides whole or partial organs for transplants. In the case of donors who have suffered massive neurological trauma and are being kept alive artificially, blood and oxygen are kept flowing through the donor's organs until they are harvested. Tissue donations (i.e. skin, bone or heart valves) can be obtained from recently departed individuals as long as they are good candidates. A few organs can be donated by living, healthy donors—like single kidneys or lungs, a portion of the liver or bone marrow—without serious harm to the donor.

Significance

• The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) maintains a computer network for procuring organs meant for transplantation. They network matches donors to recipients 24 hours a day, year 'round. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than 100,000 people are waiting for organ transplants and about 4,100 people are added to the waiting list monthly, with just over half of those receiving donated organs.

Considerations

• Matching donors to recipient requires tissue and blood typing. Organ size is also considered as are the urgency of the recipient's needs, their length of stay on the waiting list and how far away the donor is located. Medicare, Medicaid or the recipient's insurance cover transplant costs, not the donor or donor's family. To become a donor, indicate this decision when obtaining a new or renewed driver's license, telling family and signing up with an organ and tissue donor registry.

Features

• There are no age restrictions for organ and tissue donation; even newborn organs can be donated. Organs that can be transplanted include kidneys, heart and liver. Lungs, pancreas and intestines can also be donated. A single kidney or lung, or portions of the liver and intestine can be donated by living, healthy donors as can stem cells, blood or platelets and bone marrow. The numerous transplantable tissues include, but are not limited to, corneas, heart valves and bone.

Benefits

• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that one organ and tissue donor can save as many as 50 people, offering them a chance at normal, productive lives and improving their quality of life considerably. Kidney donations liberates two people from dialysis. Donor can save one person with heart disease, one with liver or pancreatic disease and two with lung disease. Two people can receive the gift of sight and a great many people can be saved by bone donations. Skin donations speed the recovery of burn victims.