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Organ & Tissue Donation Information

More than 100,000 people in the United States are currently waiting for life-saving organ donations. In the first two months of 2010, health care professionals performed more than 4,282 transplants from 2,221 donors. One organ donor can potentially donate to as many as 50 people. There are very few restrictions placed on donor eligibility, and while the vast majority give their organs upon death, there are also live donors.

  1. Eligible Donors

    • There are no age restrictions for organ and tissue donors; newborn babies to senior citizens can be donors. People with medical conditions may be eligible to donate, too; upon death, doctors will examine the conditions of the organs and tissues and utilize what they can. The most important factor in any donation is the condition of the organs or tissues. Poorly functioning 30-year-old kidneys aren't as valuable to a waiting transplant patient as 50-year-old healthy kidneys. Patients in desperate need of transplants can use less than perfect organs to stay alive. People with HIV, cancer, or a systemic infections cannot be donors.

    Donor Types

    • The majority of organ donations occur after brain death, where the oxygen and blood flow to the brain has permanently ceased. Doctors put these donors on artificial support so organs can be kept vital for removal; organs must then be removed within 72 hours. Donors who've suffered traumatic head injuries and cardiac death can't be declared brain dead if they're on life support; their donation becomes possible once family decides to terminate artificial support. Just before termination of life support, doctors remove the appropriate organs. Living donors can donate certain organs and tissues without causing detriment to their own health. Most living donation cases involve people who know one another.

    Organs

    • Donor organs can't be stored, so they must be transplanted as soon as possible. Current transplantable organs include "kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, and the intestines. Kidney/pancreas transplants, heart/lung transplants, and other combined organ transplants also are performed," according to OrganDonor.gov. Live donors are able to donate a single kidney, a section of pancreas, a section of one lung, a section of liver, or a section of intestine.

    Tissues

    • Tissue donation is as important for the patient as organs are for organ recipients, but not every tissue transplant saves a life. Instead, sometimes tissues drastically improve quality of life. Bone, ligaments, cartilage, tendons, heart valves, skin, corneas, and the middle ear can be transplanted from donor to receiver. Such transplants have the power to restore eyesight, mend weak hearts and veins, fix connective tissue and replace damaged skin.

    Becoming a Donor

    • In the U.S., potential donors must register with their state of residence (see Resources). In an effort to make registry enrollment easy, nearly all states allow residents to elect to become donors when they renew their drivers licenses, and it is printed directly on the license. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that registered donors download, print, sign, and carry the organ donation card, available on their website, OrganDonor.gov. It's important that donors discuss their decision with family members, but family cannot overturn a donor's wishes once he is deceased.

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