Between 3rd and 10th July was National Transplant Week while the 6th of October will be National Donor Day. Both these events are organised by the National Charity Transplants in Mind, with the aim of highlighting the desperate shortage of donated organs and the benefits of transplantation.
Transplants in Mind is a collective group of 27 charities who have members waiting for transplant. These charities include the National Kidney Federation, the National Eye Trust Research Centre, the British Heart Foundation and the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust.
http://www.transplantsinmind.co.uk/
Because of this serious shortage of organs, many who need a transplant have to wait a long time before they receive one. More than 6,000 people in the
Fewer than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year, so the transplant list grows longer, and each year about 400 people die while they're waiting.
What is organ donation?
Organ donation is when a person, or their family, agrees to the removal of one or more of their organs, so that the organ can be transplanted into someone else.
In most cases, organ donation happens after someone's died but some organs, particularly kidneys, can be donated by a healthy living person. Before an organ can be donated from a deceased donor, those people closest to the patient (such as their partner or parent) must give their agreement to the removal of the organ. This is an important legal requirement.
A person can donate a number of different organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas and small bowel. Tissue (that is, a group of cells of the same type packed together as part of an organ, rather than the whole organ) can also be donated. This includes skin, bone, heart valves and corneas (the surface lining the front of the eye).
Heart-beating donors
The majority of donors, and all heart donors, are heart-beating donors. These are patients who have died as a result of a severe head injury or brain haemorrhage which has irreversibly damaged their brain and they are cared for on a ventilator in an intensive care unit. They are certified dead by brain stem testing.
The brain injury damages vital centres in the brain stem which are essential to maintain life. No one can survive once these brain centres have been destroyed, and it's the brain stem tests that show conclusively when this has happened.
But although the person is dead, a ventilator keeps the body supplied with oxygen which means the heart will continue to beat and circulate blood but only while the ventilator is on. In this way, the organs can be preserved for a short while until they can be donated for transplant. These patients are called heart-beating donors.
Non-heart-beating donors
In some circumstances patients who die in hospital but aren't on a ventilator may also donate their kidneys and sometimes other organs, because these organs can last longer without a blood supply. These people are called non-heart-beating donors.
How it's handled
When someone who might be an organ donor dies, a carefully coordinated process begins. The local donor transplant coordinator talks to the family and, if they agree to donation, arranges tests such as 'tissue typing' ready to match up with people waiting for transplants.
Specialist surgeons carefully remove and preserve the organs for transport to the transplant unit, where it's transplanted immediately. The donor transplant coordinators support the family throughout the process. Recipient transplant coordinators assess patient's suitability to receive a transplant, organise the operation and support the patient afterwards.
Many more people need organ transplants than there are donor organs available, so a fair and unbiased system, based on need and tissue matching, is used to allocate the donor organ to a recipient.
Live donors
While the majority of donations occur after death, it is possible to donate some organs while you're still alive. People can live very well with just one kidney.
http://www.uktransplant.org.uk
A greater need
The number of people needing a transplant is expected to rise steeply over the next decade. More and more people are living to an older age, when the diseases which cause organ failure are much more common.
The number of people with diabetes - one of the main causes of kidney disease and failure - is rapidly increasing. And the Asian and Black populations, who are three to four times more likely to develop diabetes, kidney disease and heart disease, than the white population are growing steadily. At the same time, scientific advances mean that more people could benefit if transplants were available.
Fewer organs
Despite the huge need, the number of available organs has fallen for several reasons.
Organs have to be removed for transplantation very soon after death, so they can only be donated by someone who has died in hospital. Most organs are donated by people who are certified dead while on a ventilator in the intensive care unit, generally as a result of a major accident, a brain haemorrhage or stroke. Very few people die in these circumstances and the number is falling because of welcome improvements in road safety and advances in medical treatment.
Another major reason for the shortage of organs is that too few people think about donation or discuss it with their family. In a BBC survey, 91 per cent of people were in favour of organ donation but only 38 per cent carried a donor card or had signed up to the NHS Organ Donor Register. More than 50 per cent hadn't discussed donating their organs or made sure that their families knew their wishes.
This can be due to having to discuss your own mortality. When considering whether or not to register as an organ donor, the issue of your own death will no doubt arise. For many people, thinking about how and when they will die is uncomfortable and even frightening. Some people don't like the thought of their bodies being 'cut up' when they die, but Transplants in Mind says: "Do think how you can help others to live. Why burn or bury organs that can save lives?"
Some people worry that their organs will be taken once mistakenly pronounced dead (ie, when they are still alive). However, strict legal, medical and ethical laws govern the pronunciation of death in the
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/donation/flashjourney_index2.shtml
Are you a donor? Why do you think few people donate? Do you know anyone who has benefited from a donation? Why not let us know on the Message Board?
