Understanding Donations
What Can Be Donated
A single organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people by donating the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and intestines. And one tissue donor can improve the lives of more than 50 people by donating eyes, bone, soft tissue, heart valves, veins and skin.
Sometimes eyes and other tissues are recovered for research purposes. This type of donation has the potential to benefit generations to come, as researchers work to find the causes and cures for a variety of medical conditions.
Click on the various organs and tissues below to learn more.
Bone
Each year over 500,000 surgeries are performed
using donated bone and connective tissue.
A patient with a malignant bone tumor may be transplanted with a
segment of donated bone and avoid amputation of the limb.
Many people receive donated bone during spinal surgery where the
donated bone is implanted in the space left by a herniated disc that has
been removed. Also,
donated bone can be used to reconstruct joints that have been damaged by
the degeneration of bone caused by arthritis.
Connective
Tissue
Soft connective tissues ˜ tendons and
ligaments ˜ hold muscle to bone or one bone to another.
These tissues are very strong in order to withstand the daily
stress put upon them. However,
if any of these tissues is damaged, which happens frequently in
sports-related injuries, they are very slow to heal.
The tissue often will not heal at all if it is torn completely from
the place it anchors, or the ends may be too frayed to attempt surgical
reattachment. To repair these
injuries, surgeons use donated tissue to reconstruct the damaged tissue.
Eye
Donated corneas (the clear part on the front
of the eye) can restore sight for individuals who cannot see because of
damage to their corneas. In
addition, the sclera of the eye (the white part) is sometimes used in
glaucoma surgeries or to repair trauma to the eye.
Heart
The
heart pumps blood to all body systems.
Heart transplants allow
for a diseased or damaged heart to be replaced with a healthy one. Heart
transplants prolong the lives of patients who would otherwise die. The
third most common form of transplant (behind corneas and kidneys), heart
transplants occur over 2000 times a year in the U.S. A healthy heart is
obtained from a donor who has suffered from brain death but has been kept
alive on life support. Prior to transplant, donor hearts are preserved
carefully in special solutions but must be transplanted within 4-6 hours.
Heart transplants are considered as a treatment for heart failure, which
may be caused by: coronary heart disease; cardiomyopathy (thickening of
the heart walls); heart valve disease; and severe congenital (inherited)
heart disease. About 80% of heart recipients are alive two years after the
operation.
Sometimes an individual may be transplanted with a heart and lung at the same time. These transplants, performed in the U.S. since 1980, are considered for patients who have severely damaged or diseased lungs and heart. Because of the rarity of these operations, the long-term outcomes are not known at this time.
Heart
Valve
Children under 15 years of age are the
recipients of 70% of the human heart valves transplanted in this country.
Human heart valves are preferred over artificial valves and
xenografts (from animals) for some patients because they have a lower
failure rate, greater durability and do not require life-long blood
thinner therapy. Because of
the risks involved in having an artificial valve, which requires the use
of blood-thinning medicines, women of childbearing age are often
recipients of donated human valves. Use
of human valves eliminates the need for blood-thinners and reduces the
risk of major blood loss at the time a woman gives birth.
Heart valves can be preserved and stored for several years and used
when a suitable recipient needs one.
Intestine
The intestine is a digestive organ that absorbs water, electrolytes and
nutrients for the body. An intestine
transplant, involving either the whole intestine or an intestinal
segment, becomes a life-saving treatment for patients with intestinal
failure. Most intestinal transplants are performed on patients with
short-gut syndrome, the loss of more than 70% of the intestine due to
trauma, surgery, or disease. Intestine transplants in children are often
done to correct congenital defects. Most of the intestine transplants
involve transplanting the whole intestine and are performed in conjunction
with a liver transplant. Patients with intestinal failure receive
intravenous feedings, which can result in liver damage over the long term;
hence, the need for combined liver-intestine transplants. In 1999 a major
transplant center reported that children between the ages of 2 and 18 had
the best successes, with a five-year survival rate of 68%.
Kidney
The kidneys
extract waste from the blood and produces important hormones.
Kidney transplants are the
second most common transplant operation, following cornea transplants.
Over 12,000 kidney transplants were performed in the U.S in 1999. Kidney
transplants can save the lives of individuals with kidney disease or
kidney failure, which may be caused by severe, uncontrolled high blood
pressure, by a variety of infections, or by diabetes mellitus. Successful
kidney transplants restore the body’s ability to remove waste, as well
as to regulate blood pressure, blood volume, and the chemical
(electrolyte) composition of the blood. Healthy kidneys from either living
donors (usually blood relatives) or from recently deceased donors may be
used for a transplant. With the use of drugs to prevent rejection of the
organ, between 80 and 90% of transplanted kidneys are functioning two
years after the surgery.
Liver
The liver is instrumental in energy regulation.
It makes proteins and removes waste from the blood.
In 1999 over 4000 liver
transplants were performed in the U.S in 1999. Although most
transplants involve a whole liver from a recently deceased donor, liver
segments donated by living donors have been increasingly used. Examples of
cases when a liver transplant might be considered include patients with
livers damaged by: cirrhosis (a chronic liver disease that causes damage
to the liver and progressive decrease in liver function); a long-term
infection, such as hepatitis; birth defects of the liver; or other
disorders of the liver. Fifty percent of adults with liver transplants and
60% of children are alive two years after the surgery.
Lung
The lungs are paired, cone-shaped organs in the chest.
The lungs expand and contract as air is taken into the body and
carbon monoxide is exhaled. The
lungs also process oxygen and carry it to the bloodstream. are
considered for patients with severe lung disease. One or both lungs are
replaced with healthy lungs from a recently deceased donor. Examples of
lung disease include: emphysema (the permanent enlargement of air sacs in
the lung, with the loss of ability to exhale); hereditary lung blockages,
such as cystic fibrosis; long-term infections; and permanent scarring and
thickening of the lung tissue. Current survival rates for patients with
lung transplants are as high as 80% at one year following transplantation
and 60% at four years.
Pancreas
The pancreas secretes enzymes necessary for digestion.
It also secretes insulin that helps regulate blood sugar. Approximately 300 pancreas
transplants are performed each year and are sometimes performed
with a kidney transplant for a diabetic patient. A pancreas transplant may
involve the whole pancreas or a pancreas segment, which can be donated by
a living donor. Most often a transplant is considered when the patient’s
pancreas has been affected by cancer or by insulin-dependent diabetes.
Pancreas transplants give the patient a chance to become independent of
insulin injections.
Skin
Donated skin is used to treat patients who
have been badly burned over large areas of the body.
Intact skin is necessary to control temperature and fluid loss, and
to protect against infection. Donated
skin provides an effective barrier to fluid loss and bacterial
contamination. Skin can also
be used for other reconstructive surgeries, such as repair of the urinary
tract, bladder, or vocal cords.
Veins
A condition called arterial insufficiency,
common in people with diabetes, can lead to amputation of a limb.
Using a donated vein, a surgeon can re-establish circulation in an
affected limb and save it. Donated
veins are also used in heart bypass surgery when the patient’s own veins
cannot be used for the procedure. This
procedure can prevent a heart attack from occurring.
Donated veins and arteries can be used for kidney dialysis
(artificial kidney treatment) for patients as they wait for kidney
transplants. The tissue is
used to connect an artery and vein in a kidney patient’s arm to provide
access for dialysis. A donated artery can also be used to repair some
types of life-threatening aneurysms.