About Organ Donation – Rotto Guwahati

Organ donation is the process of donating organs or biological tissue to a living recipient, who is in need of a transplant. The donor may be alive or deceased.

Transplantation of organs is one of the greatest medical advancements of our times. People all over India are in immense need of Kidney, Liver, Heart, Cornea and Lungs. It is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transported from a donor site to another location. Organs that have been successfully transplanted include the kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, pancreas, intestine. Some organs, like the brain, cannot be transplanted. Tissues include bones, cornea, skin, heart valves, nerves and veins. Worldwide, the kidneys are the most commonly transplanted organs, followed by the liver and then the heart. Cornea and musculoskeletal grafts are the most commonly transplanted tissues.

Following information will help you in understanding about the process of organ donation and transplantation:

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ORGAN TRANSPLANT DONATIONS?

There are two different kinds of transplant donations:

1. Living Donor Transplant – This occurs when a living person decides to donate his or her organ(s) to someone in need of a transplant. Living donors are usually family members or close friends of the person who requires a transplant. They must meet certain medical criteria and undergo comprehensive medical testing, as required by the particular circumstance, before being accepted as suitable donors.

2. Deceased Donor Transplant – This is when organs from a brain dead individual are transplanted into the body of a living recipient. The deceased individual in this scenario can only be a victim of brain death. This kind of transplant initially requires the recipient to wait on a list until a suitable organ is available based on the recipient’s medical profile.

WHAT ARE THE ORGANS THAT CAN BE DONATED?

Different organs, such as heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and tissues, such as corneas and bone marrow, can now be successfully transplanted into patients, who can expect to survive for years or even decades. The different organs that can be transplanted depend on the type of organ transplant i.e. whether the donor is alive or deceased.

On one hand, living donors may donate a very limited number of organs and biological tissue. This list usually consists of one kidney (because one kidney is capable of performing bodily functions), a part of pancreas (because half of the pancreas is adequate to sustain pancreatic functions) and a part of liver (because the few segments that can be donated will regenerate after a period of time).
On the other hand, transplants with deceased donors (who are brain dead) can be of the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas, as well as tissues, like the cornea and bone marrow.

TYPES OF ORGAN DONORS:

LIVING DONORS

1. The donor undergoes the medical tests and evaluations to check his or her medical compatibility with the recipient.
2. The donor’s medical compatibility is confirmed by a doctor, only after which a transplant may take place.
3. The donor’s organs are surgically retrieved and stored in special chemical solutions until transplantation is to occur.
4. The donor’s body is surgically closed.
5. The donor may have to stay under medical care for a few days after organ retrieval has occurred.
Living donors, however, may only donate a limited list of organs or tissue.

DECEASED DONORS

1. The donor, who is a victim of a fatal injury to the head, is declared brain dead by a board of medical experts.
2. Consent from the donor’s family is obtained before the process of organ procurement is carried out. Within that time, the donor’s body is kept on a ventilator under special medical care, which ensures that his or her heart is still beating and organs are kept alive.
3. A suitable recipient for the organ transplantation is identified off a waiting list and notified.
4. The donor’s organs are surgically retrieved and stored in special chemical solutions until transplantation is to occur.
5. The ventilator support is discontinued and the donor’s body is surgically closed and released to the family members.

THE TIME PERIODS FOR ORGANS TO BE KEPT ALIVE IN DECEASED DONATIONS

A deceased donor is kept on a ventilator after he or she has been declared brain dead until the organs can be retrieved. A brain dead person’s organs may stay alive for some specific time period; this period may range from days to weeks. However, once the organs have been removed from the body and stored in a chemical solution, they have limited life spans. The organs with the specific time period for transplantation are given below:

Heart: 4-6 hours
Liver: 12-15 hours
Kidney: 24-48 hours
Pancreas: 12-24 hours
Intestine: 6-10 hours
Lung: 4-8 hours

DONORS SHOULD TELL THEIR FAMILIES ABOUT THEIR WISH TO PLEDGE THEIR ORGANS

The most important thing that a donor must do, after he or she has pledged to become a donor, is to discuss the decision with his or her family members. Donors are advised to help their families understand the motive behind their decisions. A donor may narrate some other donors story to their family members or near and dear ones to make them motivate about the importance of donating organs and not to waste the organs and give others a chance to live.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE RECIPIENT OF THE ORGAN(S)?

It is important for recipients, who are in need of a transplant, to be aware of their roles in the entire procedure. Recipients are usually (in deceased donations) linked to donors as follows:

1. The recipient is identified by a hospital as someone who is in need of an organ/tissue transplant.
2. The recipient’s medical profile and details are verified by the hospital in charge.
3. The recipient is placed on a waiting list of either a hospital or a network of hospitals.,
4. A suitable donor is identified based on medical compatibility with the recipient.
5. The recipient is informed about the donor and that the transplant may take place.