* 25 facts about Organ Donation and Transplantation

The success rates of transplant surgery have improved remarkably, but the shortage of organs and tissues available for transplantation continues to grow. Many Americans who need transplants cannot get them because of this shortage. The result: some of these people die while waiting for the "Gift of Life"

Each year, the National Kidney Foundation develops special public educational programs aimed at increasing public awareness of the need for organ and tissue donation. Learning more about organ and tissue donation will help every American to make an informed decision about this important issue. Hear are some of the facts everyone should know.

1. More than 99,000 U.S. patients are currently waiting for an organ transplant; more than 2,000 new patients are added to the waiting list each year.

2. Every day about 9 to 10 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ, such as a heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, or bone marrow.

3. Because of the lack of available donors in this country, in 1996, 1,814 kidney patients, 954 liver patients, 746 heart patients and 385 lung patients died while waiting for life-saving organ transplants.

4. About 10 percent of the patients currently waiting for liver transplants are young people under 18 years of age.

5. Acceptable organ donors can range in age from newborn to 65 years of age or more.

6. People who are 65 years of age or older may be acceptable donors, particularly of corneas, skin, bone and of total body donation.

7. An estimated 10,000 to 14,000 people who die each year meet the criteria for organ donation, but less than half of that number become actual organ donors.

8. Advances in preservation techniques have made it possible to recover vital organs and transport them thousands of miles to a transplant center. Following are the approxmate preservation times for a variety of organs and tissues.

9. Donor organs are matched to waiting recipients by a national computer registry called the National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). This computer registry is operated by an organization known as the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which is located in Richmond, Virginia.

10. Currently there are 54 organ procurement organizations (OPOs) across the country that provide organ procurement services to some 281 transplant centers.

11. By Federal mandate, all states must have some form of "Required Request" legislation, which requires hospitals within the state to set up a protocol for offering the next-of-kin of someone who has died the option of donating the organs and tissues of the deceased.

12. By signing the Uniform Donor Card. an individual indicates his or her wish to be a donor. However, at the time of death, the person's next-of-kin will still be asked to sign a consent form for donation. It is important for people who wish to be organ and tissue donors to tell their families about this decision so that their wishes will be honored at the time of death. It is estimated that about 35% of viable donors never become donors because family members refuse to give consent.

13. All costs related to the donation of organs and tissues are paid for by the donor program. Rarely, a family receives a bill by mistake. If this happens, families should contact the hospital or procurement agency immediately.

14. There were 5,416 cadaver donors in the U.S. in 1996, which represents a small increase over the total of 5,347 in 1995. Living donors increased from 3,260 n 1995 to 3,400 (estimated) in 1996.

15. Donor organs and tissues are removed surgically, and the donor's body is closed, as in any surgery, There are no outward signs of organ donation and open casket funerals are still possible.

16. Acceptable organ donors are those who are "brain dead" (whose brain functaion has ceased permanently) but whose heart and lungs continue to function with the use of artificial life support. Brain dead is a legal definition of death.

17. Organ transplant recipients are selected on the basis of medical urgency, as well as compatatibility of body size and blood chemistries, and not race, sex or creed.

18. Advances in surgical technique and organ preservation and the development of more effective drugs to prevent rejection have improved the success rates of all types of organ and tissue transplants.

19. About 83 percent of the kidneys transplanted from cadavers (persons who died recently) are still functioning well at one year after surgery. The results are even better for kidneys transplanted from iving related donors because of more closely matched organs. One year after surgery, 94 percent of these kidneys were still functioning well.

20. Following are one-year patient and organ graft survival rates:

21. Following is a comparison of the numbers of organ transplants done in 1996 and the number of individuals who remained on the national waiting list as of August 1997:

22. Of the single kidney transplants performed in 1996, 3,389 were from living donors and 7,710 were from cadaver donors. Another 850 kidneys were transplanted in combination with pancreas transplants.

23. An estimated 50 bone marrow transplants are performed each month in the U.S. Marrow is collected from volunteer donors under anestesia by aspiration from a pelvic bone. The majority of bone marrow trasplants are done for leukemia.

24. In 1995, 44,652 corneal transplants were done in the U.S. The number of Americans on waiting lists for corneas averages as high as 5,000 at any given time. Corneal transplantation results in improved vision in nearly 95 percent of those who undergo the procedure because of corneal disorders. Corneas are acceptable for donation regardless of abnormalities in vision.

25. Virtually all religious denominations approve of organ and tissue donation as representing the highest humanitarian ideals and the ultimate charitable act.

This information courtesy of the The National Kidney Foundation, who is committed to insuring that everyone who needs a transplant is able to get one. The foundation's nationwide organ donation program supplies Uniform Donor Cards and free information about organ donation and tissue donation to the public. Special public information programs are conducted annually to increase public awareness of the importance of organ and tissue donation.

November 1997

Data sources:
American Association of Blood Banks
American Association of Tissue Banks
Eye Bank Association of America
National Kidney Foundation, Inc.
UNOS Scientific Registry

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