Organ Transplant
What is organ transplantation?
Organ transplantation is a surgical procedure that involves replacing a failed organ with a healthy organ donated by another individual. Organ transplantation is often reserved as a last resort therapeutic option in certain individuals with end-stage organ disease. It is generally an option in individuals that have a life expectancy of 10 or more years. Patients frequently have to undergo a series of laboratory tests including screening for infectious diseases (eg, HIV, CMV, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis) and other conditions prior to being considered a transplant candidate. Individuals are also normally tested for illicit drug use and screened for coexisting psychological disorders
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Patients with end-stage kidney disease are also often bridged to kidney transplantation. They typically receive placement of a hemodialysis catheter or arteriovenous fistula in order to undergo dialysis three times per week. Dialysis machines act like the kidneys by filtering blood and balancing fluid and electrolyte levels.
Patients receiving lung transplantation often have respiratory failure and require continuous oxygen therapy. Occasionally, these individuals need assisted ventilation with a breathing machine (mechanical ventilation). Individuals with cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease are normally managed with medications to treat symptoms and complications of liver disease. They frequently receive therapeutic paracentesis and occasionally require a TIPS procedure prior to liver transplantation. Those with fulminant liver failure typically require urgent liver transplantation.
What laboratory tests are ordered in transplant recipients?
Commonly ordered blood tests in transplant recipients typically include a CMP (comprehensive metabolic panel), CBC (complete blood cell count), and thyroid function studies (TSH, free T4). A urine analysis, pregnancy test (in women of reproductive age), and urine drug screen are also normally obtained. Urine is also normally sent for bacterial culture. Your doctor may order blood tests evaluating for exposure to certain viruses such as human immunodeficiency
Today we are in great need of a solution to solve the problem of the shortage of human organs available for transplant. The website for Donate Life America estimates that in the United States over 100 people per day are added to the current list of over 100,000 men, women, and children that are waiting for life-saving transplants. Sadly enough, approximately 18 people a day on that list die just because they cannot outlive the wait for the organ that they so desperately need to survive. James Burdick, director of the Division of Transplantation for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services confirms, “The need for organ transplants continues to grow and this demand continues to outpace the supply of transplantable organs”. The
An organ donation consists of the removal of organs and tissue from a donor and then transplanting them into a person who is in desperate need of an organ. The majority of transplants occur when the donor is deceased, in situations where the donor is alive they may give one of their kidneys or part of their liver to a patient. Around 1,600 Australians are waiting for a life-changing transplant. Waiting for an organ can be up to weeks or months, meaning that many people past away waiting for a transplant.
Since the first successful kidney transplant in 1954, the procedure has evolved from a risky experimental procedure to a relatively safe and standard procedure. Since then, doctors have been consistently raising the bar and have had success with numerous organ transplants, including hearts, lungs, livers, skin and even full facial transplants. Organs can be donated from the obvious, a deceased person, or from a cadaveric donor (someone who is declared brain dead) or from live donors. The transplantable organs from a live donor include the kidney, part of the lung and liver, and part of the eye, the cornea. The donor organs
In order to be eligible for an organ donation list, you must be in end-stage organ failure. This means that one of the patient’s organs has not been working for a while and it is impossible for them to live without some kind of help or transplant. For many patients, end-stage organ failure can come as a shock even if they have known for months that one of their organs was failing. With kidneys, this means the patients are put on dialysis if they are not already. Dialysis is a process that mechanically helps to do the things that the kidneys normally do. This can include filtering waste and toxins out of the body. Many organs can be transplanted from living and dead donors, including kidneys, heart, lung,
Organ donation was first started in 1954, december 24th by Dr. Joseph Murray and Dr. David Hume in Boston at Brigham Hospital this was also the first successful kidney transplant and after this many other transplants became successful like the first lung transplant 9 years after the first kidney transplant and this transplant was done by Dr. James Hardy at the university of Mississippi medical center, now it has become a pretty common practice and it saves many lives today. In 1984 they passed the National Organ Transplant Act to help organ matchmaking to make it easier to find a match for people which helps improve the quality of the service, and before this act there was another one 16 years before that act and this act was called The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) and that made the legal foundation for organ transplanted and it stated that organs and tissue could be donated through document of gift and this made what could and couldn't happen in organ transplantation, basically the start of the legal way of organ transplants. 19 years after the passing the UAGA they made a revision of it which made it where when a person gives consent to give a organ before death it is now irrevocable meaning that it could not be taken back meaning it will happen, a while after they updated this act again in 2006 and made little changes again about consent being revoked. Throughout the years there were many changes to the laws of organ transplant and a lot of the laws made it better
Kidney disease has become more prevalent over the years, one in nine Americans has chronic kidney disease, resulting in the need for a kidney transplant. Kidney failure is caused by variety of factors resulting in damage of the nephrons, which are the most important functioning unit of the kidneys. Kidney failure can be broken down into three groups: acute, chronic, end-stage. Once kidney failure is irreversible, dialysis or transplantation is the only method of survival. To avoid a kidney transplant, one needs to be aware of the pre-disposing factors, signs and symptoms, available treatments, and proper diet.
In February 2003, 17-year-old Jesica Santillan received a heart-lung transplant at Duke University Hospital that went badly awry because, by mistake, doctors used donor organs from a patient with a different blood type. The botched operation and subsequent unsuccessful retransplant opened a discussion in the media, in internet chat rooms, and in ethicists' circles regarding how we, in the United States, allocate the scarce commodity of organs for transplant. How do we go about allocating a future for people who will die without a transplant? How do we go about denying it? When so many are waiting for their shot at a life worth living, is it fair to grant multiple organs or multiple
In the article “Wanted, Dead or Alive? Kidney Transplants in Inmates Awaiting Execution”, Jacob M. Appel argues that, despite the criminal justice system’s view that death-row inmates deserve to die, they should be given the same opportunity to extend their life as anyone else. “The United States Supreme Court has held since 1976 that prison inmates are entitled to the same medical treatment as the free public” (645).
In a world where life expectancy has increased tremendously over the last century because of new technology and medical procedures, we find humanity ever pushing the boundaries on what it can do to prevent loss of life where possible. One example is the area of organ donation and transplantation. However, unlike many other technologies or procedures which can be built, manufactured, or learned, organ transplantation requires one thing that we can’t create yet: an organ itself. Because our increased life span causes more people to require a replacement organ when theirs starts to fail, the demand has far outrun the supply and the future only looks to get worse. “Between the years 1988 and 2006 the number of transplants doubled, but the
Organ transplantation is a medical act which involves the surgical operating by transferring or removing of an organ from one person to the other, or placing the organ of a donor into the body of a recipient for the replacement of the recipients damaged or failed organ which resulted from impairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism or an act that causes someone to receive physical damage.
For organ donation after death, a medical assessment will be done to determine what organs can be donated.
donation. 2. The reality is, as we all know, that we are not invincible, and
About seventy-Four people a day receive an organ transplant, however an average of seventeen people die each day waiting for transplants. Did you know that more than 88,000 men, women and children currently await life-saving transplants? Every 12 minutes another name is added to the national transplant waiting list. Of those 88,000 waiting, 61,000 of them are waiting for a kidney. How many of you reading this are organ donors? I use to feel that I didn't want a doctor taking anything from me after I have passed, even knowing that two of my family members, an uncle and cousin, had severe kidney disease. It wasn't until after they had passed away that I really thought seriously about organ donation. I'm not proud of my prior
Organ donation is a sacrifice that can touch many people through one person’s unselfish gift. Granted that gift most often comes after a tragic loss of a loved one. As the bearer of three functioning kidneys, I have always considered organ donation to be the expected norm. But today, the focus will be to enlighten you on the reasons to consider organ donation. Organ donations are needed for every age group, race, and ethnic groups. Each person should take the opportunity to extend the gift of life to another individual through organ donation.
According to United Network for Organ Sharing (2010) organ donations and transplantation are the removal of organs and tissues from one person and placed into another person’s body. The need for organ transplantation usually occurs when the recipient organ has failed (UNOS, 2010). Organ donation can save the lives of many individuals who are on the waiting list for an organ donation. Becoming an organ donor can be a difficult decision. Many people have the false beliefs about being an organ donor. An example would be if organ donor is on their driver’s license and a person is in a life-threatening accident everything will not be done to save their life. There is an increase need for organ donors and unfortunately the need for organ